tihvavy  of  t:Ke  t:heoIo3ical  ^emmarjp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

From  the  library  of 
The  Reverend  Professor 

Benjamin  Breckenridge  Warfield,  D.D 

BV  4316  .T5  P7  ^ 

Princeton  sermons 


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PRINCETON   SERMONS 


CHIEFLY    BY 


THE  PROFESSORS  IN  PRINCETON 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


FLEMING    H.  REVELL    COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 

30  Union  Square   East  148-150  Madison  Street 

Publishers  0/  Evangelical  Literature 


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1893, 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company. 


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PEEFACE. 

The  sermons  printed  in  this  volume  were  not 
written  for  publication.  They  represent  the  or- 
dinary sermons  preached  Sabbath  by  Sabbath  in 
the  chapel  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Prince- 
ton. The  most  of  them  were  preached  during  the 
term  of  last  year  (1891-92).  The  exceptions  to 
this  are  chiefly  due  to  the  desii'e  to  include  in  the 
volume  sermons  of  two  of  the  professors  in  the 
seminary  who  were  taken  from  it  diu-ing  the  first 
half  of  that  term — the  late  Drs.  C.  W.  Hodge  and 
C.  A.  Aiken.  The  volume  is  gi-eatly  enriched,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  truer  conspectus  is  given  of  the 
year's  preacliing  in  the  chapel,  by  the  inclusion  in 
it  also  of  sermons  by  two  of  the  officers  of  the 
seminary  who  ai'e  as  closely  identified  with  it  as 
the  professors  themselves,  and  who  frequently  grace 
its  pulpit — President  Patton  and  Dean  Murray  of 
the  college.  The  sermons  of  President  Patton  here 
printed  are  distinctly  college  sermons,  and  belong 
to  the  opening  and  close  of  the  coUege  year.  Dean 
Murray's  were  preached  in  the  seminary  chapel. 
The  fact  that  these  sermons  are  addressed  to 


iv  PREFACE. 

an  audience  composed  almost  entirely  of  divinity 
students  has  no  doubt  given  them  a  special  char- 
acter. Among  other  things  it  has  brought  it 
about  that  they  are,  as  a  class,  rather  didactic  than 
evangelizing  sermons.  If  on  one  side  this  may  be 
a  weakness,  possibly  on  another  it  may  be  not 
altogether  without  some  advantage.  There  is 
good  reason,  at  any  rate,  to  hope  that  a  body  of 
sermons  addi-essed  to  a  distinctively  Christian 
audience  may  not  be  without  general  usefulness. 
A  thoughtful  passage  from  a  recent  work  by  Prof. 
William  Milligan,  D.D.,  of  the  University  of  Aber- 
deen (''The  Ascension  and  Heavenly  Priesthood  of 
our  Lord,"  p.  281),  may  be  quoted  here  in  support 
of  such  a  hope.  In  justice  to  Dr.  Milligan  it  must 
be  remembered  that  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
this  passage  he  fuUy  recognizes  the  importance 
and  duty  of  evangelizing  preaching.  Bearing  this 
in  mind,  the  following  remarks  will  doubtless  be 
instructive : 

"  Important  as  the  sacred  writers  knew  their  message  to 
the  world  to  be,  they  never  fail  to  exhibit  the  conviction  that 
it  was  even  more  important  to  the  churches ;  that,  while  they 
had  no  doubt  to  convert  unbelievers,  it  was  still  more  imper- 
atively required  that  they  should  edify  believers  and  carry 
them  on  unto  perfection ;  and  that  the  different  members  of 
the  Body  needed  to  be  compacted  into  one,  each  working 
well  in  its  own  place,  and  all  working  smoothly  together, 
before  the  Church  could  successfully  accomplish  her  mission. 


PREFACE.  V 

Hence  the  exhortations  to  growth  in  every  Chiistian  gi'aee 
with  which  the  New  Testament  Epistles  abound ;  hence  the 
joy  of  thankfulness  with  which  every  manifestation  of  that 
growth  was  hailed  by  the  Apostles  and  apostolic  men  who 
wrote  them ;  hence  the  prominence  continually  assigned  to 
that  order  of  things  which,  embodying  the  precept  of  om* 
Lord,  fii'st  makes  the  tree  good  that  its  fruit  may  be  good 
also ;  and  hence,  to  take  only  one  noteworthy  example  from 
the  writings  of  St.  Paul,  when  that  Apostle  tells  us  of  the 
object  which  the  ascended  Lord  had  in  view  by  the  gift  of 
his  various  ministries,  the  conversion  of  the  world  is  not 
mentioned.  Everything  has  relation  to  the  Church.  Apos- 
tles, prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers  are  given 
'  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  unto  the  work  of  ministeiing, 
unto  the  building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ ;  till  we  all  attain 
unto  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son 
of  God,  unto  a  full-grown  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stat- 
ure of  the  fullness  of  Christ,  .  .  .  from  whom  all  the  body 
fitly  framed  and  knit  together,  ,  .  .  maketh  the  increase  of 
the  body  unto  the  building  up  of  itself  in  love.' " 

On  some  such  ground  as  this,  it  may  be  hoped 
that  these  sermons  may  be  useful  in  much  broader 
circles  than  that  for  which  they  were  originally 
prepared,  and  to  which  they  were  in  the  fii'st  in- 
stance preached. 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE. 

By  Prof.  William  Henry  Green,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

'^Father,  I  will  that  tliey  also,  wJiom  tJiou  hast  given  me,  be 
with  me  where  I  am;  that  they  may  behold  my  glory,  which 
thou  hast  given  we,"— John  17  :  24. 

IF  our  minds  were  in  perfect  harmony  with  the 
mind  of  Christ  our  views  would  in  many  re- 
spects be  greatly  altered.  Many  things  that  we 
now  desire  and  long  for  would  lose  much  of  their 
attractiveness  j  and  other  things  that  we  dread  and 
shiink  from  would  cease  to  be  unwelcome. 

The  great  Redeemer  is  in  this  chapter  giving 
utterance  to  the  desires  of  his  heart  on  behalf  of  his 
people.  And  the  closing  petition,  the  crowning  one 
of  all,  is  that  they  might  be  with  him  to  behold  his 
glory.  He  had  been  with  them  here  in  his  humili- 
ation and  life  of  toilsome  sorrow.  But  the  termi- 
nation of  his  work  on  earth  was  now  rapidly  ap- 
proaching, and  he  was  shortly  to  leave  the  world  and 
enter  into  his  glory.  The  anticipated  departure  of 
their  Lord,  whom  they  loved  and  upon  whom  they 


.2  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

leaned  for  more,  far  more,  tlian  any  merely  human 
fi-iend  or  teacher  could  have  brought  them,  had  Med 
theii'  hearts  with  sadness  and  grief.  How  lonely, 
cheerless,  helpless  would  they  be  in  this  world  if 
Jesus  were  taken  away  from  them  !  But  the  sepa- 
ration, which  grieved  them  so  much,  shall  not  last 
forever.  It  is  his  will  that  they  should  be  with  him 
where  he  is.  The  last  and  highest  blessing  that  he 
solicits  for  them  is  then-  removal  from  earth  to 
heaven. 

This  is  desirable  in  the  first  place  that  they  may 
be  delivered  fi-om  the  contact  and  contamination  of 
evil.  He  had  before  prayed  that  while  they  were 
in  the  world  they  might  be  kept  from  the  evil 
which  so  abounds  in  it.  It  is  a  priceless  benefit  to 
have  a  divine  shield  ioterposed  between  us  and  aU 
surrounding  dangers ;  to  be  enabled  to  walk  dry- 
shod  through  the  ver}^  midst  of  the  tempestuous 
sea,  and  while  the  waves  thereof  roar  and  are  trou- 
bled, and  its  billows  thi-eaten  to  ingulf  us,  to  find 
that  they  are  held  back  by  an  almighty  arm  and  a 
pathway  cloven  before  us,  so  that  we  can  pass  un- 
harmed along  our  perilous  way.  It  is  an  inestima- 
ble blessing  to  have  divine  guidance  and  heavenly 
supplies  in  the  desert,  the  cloud  and  the  fire  going 
before  us  in  the  trackless  waste;  and  while  on 
ever\^  hand  nothing  appears  but  barren  and  arid 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  3 

sands,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  seems  as  though  we 
must  certainly  famish  and  perish  from  thii'st,  to 
find  that  the  clouds  are  bidden  to  rain  down  food 
upon  us  day  by  day  and  the  rock  to  pom-  forth  its 
cooling  streams.  But  the  beneficence  is  more  com- 
plete which  not  merely  guards  and  protects  in  the 
midst  of  evils,  but  dissipates  and  removes  the  evils 
themselves ;  which  brings  the  people  safely  to  the 
shore  beyond  the  reach  of  the  angry  waves  of  the 
sea ;  and  which  leads  them  out  of  the  waste  and 
howling  wilderness  and  fixes  their  secure  abode  in 
the  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 
'  This  is  a  world  of  e\dl,  and  evil  is  inseparably 
connected  with  every  condition  here.  Blessed  be 
God,  it  is  not  a  world  of  unmingled  evil.  There  is 
much  in  it  to  be  gi'ateful  for ;  much  that  is  good 
and  holy  and  pure  5  much  that  turns  our  thoughts 
to  Grod ;  much  that  is  adapted  to  help  us  upward 
toward  him  and  to  quicken  and  stimulate  us  in  his 
service.  There  is  the  converse  and  companionship 
of  the  good.  There  are  those  among  us  who  de- 
serve to  be  styled  the  excellent  of  the  earth,  whose 
spu-it  is  pure  and  Christ-hke,  whose  conversation  is 
in  heaven,  who  breathe  a  heavenly  atmosphere,  and 
their  faces  are  radiant  from  their  devout  and  holy 
intercourse  with  God.  Wc  find  it  not  only  dehght- 
ful  and  refreshing,  but  elevating  and  ennobling,  to 


4  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

come  into  contact  with  them.  We  cannot  be  with 
them  without  being  sensibly  warmed  by  the  glow 
of  holy  affections  which  burns  in  their  bosoms, 
without  ha\dng  a  livelier  interest  awakened  within 
us  in  the  things  of  God.  We  come  forth  from 
their  society  and  find  that  the  objects  of  faith  have 
assumed  a  more  practical  reality  to  us ;  our  con- 
victions are  freshened  and  deepened  that  the  mat- 
ters of  eternity  are  really  the  great  concern ;  and 
we  have  gathered  new  inward  resolves  that  they 
shall  henceforth  supremely  engage  our  thoughts 
and  our  activities.  But  we  return  to  the  compan- 
ionship of  ordinary  men  more  on  a  level  with  our- 
selves, and  we  resemble  a  soHtary  coal  drawn  forth 
from  among  blazing  embers  and  laid  amidst  lumps 
of  ice,  where  it  is  speedily  blackened  and  chilled. 
We  relapse  again  into  our  customary  state.  We 
fall  to  the  condition  of  those  around  us,  above 
which  our  poor,  weak  aspirations  ai*e  insufficient 
to  raise  us.  The  most  of  those  around  us  are  ab- 
sorbed with  the  world — busily,  eagerly  pressing 
their  earthly  schemes,  occupied  with  earthly  cares, 
engaged  in  earthly  pursuits,  revehng  in  earthly 
pleasures,  extolling  the  worth  of  earthly  things, 
living  as  though  this  world  were  all.  And  they 
who  have  the  love  of  God  in  their  hearts  hide  it  so 
far  out  of  sight  that  we  often  scarcely  feel  the  dif- 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  5 

ference  between  them  and  others.  And  thus  our 
friends,  our  associates,  the  companions  of  our  daily 
life,  go  rushing  on  in  the  same  heedless  chase  of 
earthly  vanities,  and  we  speed  on  with  the  multi- 
tude, unable  to  breast  the  current  or  to  resist  the 
accumulated  pressure  which  sweeps  us  along  with 
those  who  surround  us. 

(^''Oh,  to  be  lifted  out  of  this  fatal  whirl,  to  be 
where  we  should  be  buoyed  up  and  helped  onward 
instead  of  being  di-awn  downward  by  those  who 
are  about  us !  If  those  choice  spirits  who  are  so 
helpful  to  us  could  be  with  us  always,  ever  lending 
us  their  aid,  and  theirs  the  only  influences  to  which 
we  were  subjected !  If  we  could  be  in  a  commu- 
nity made  up  of  the  good  alone,  where  the  love  of 
Christ  reigned  in  every  heart  and  all  were  pos- 
sessed of  his  pure  and  blessed  Spiiit,  so  that  from 
the  whole  circle  of  oui'  companionship  should  come 
only  influences  that  were  quickening,  elevating,  and 
purifying ! 

But  such  a  community  is  not  to  be  found  in  this 
world,  which  is  one  of  mingled  good  and  evil,  and 
where  too  often  the  bad  predominates.  It  is  only 
in  the  heavenly  gloiy  that  a  society  of  unmixed 
good  is  realized.  Into  that  world  nothing  defiled 
or  that  defileth  shall  ever  enter;  the  companion- 
ship is  with  angels  and  the  glorified  spirits  of  the 


6  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

just;  all  that  pass  tliither  from  this  world  have 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  aU  theii-  weaknesses  and 
imperfections  have  been  removed.  There  all  Ups 
are  vocal  with  the  praises  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the 
throne,  and  of  the  Lamb ;  every  heai-t  is  responsive 
to  each  utterance  of  the  divine  wiU  5  eveiy  breast 
swells  with  thankfulness  and  ]oji\A  gi-atitude  for 
all  the  blessings  of  redeeming  love ;  the  image  of 
Christ  is  reflected  in  every  form  5  untarnished  ex- 
cellence radiates  from  all.  How  is  it  possible  to 
move  in  such  society  as  this  without  being  borne 
aloft  by  the  spirit  which  pervades  the  whole,  with- 
out being  ourselves  absorbed  in  that  one  supreme, 
controlling  object  of  interest  which  dwells  in  every 
heart,  without  kindling  into  admiration  of  that  one 
theme  which  glows  on  eveiy  tongue,  without  gazing 
T\dth  fond  delight  upon  that  one  center  of  attrac- 
tion to  which  all  eyes  are  turned,  without  sharing 
in  the  love  and  purity  and  holiness  which  every- 
where prevail  ?  There  are  the  angels  who  shouted 
over  the  new-born  creation  and  who  have  watched 
with  growing  wonder  and  dehght  the  developments 
of  God's  plan  of  grace  from  that  day  to  this; 
whose  voices  blended  in  that  sweet  chorus  heard 
by  the  shepherds  of  Bethlehem  when  the  Lord  of 
gloiy  was  born  a  babe ;  who  gazed  with  indescrib- 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  7 

able  amazement  upon  the  astonishing  scenes  of 
Gethsemane  and  of  Calvary ;  who  saw  the  Son  of 
God,  when  his  humiliation  was  ended,  reascend 
the  skies  and  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  entire 
heavenly  host  assume  his  seat  on  the  right  hand  of 
God  5  and  who  have  since  gone  forth  with  willing 
feet  on  numberless  ministries  of  love  to  the  heirs 
of  salvation.  There  are  the  patriarchs,  who  have 
found  the  city  of  foundations  for  which  they  once 
looked  and  longed.  There  are  the  prophets,  who 
eagerly  watched  for  the  coming  dawn  before  the 
day  had  broken,  and  who  foretold  its  future  bright- 
ness. There  are  the  apostles,  who  companied  with 
Jesus  in  the  days  of  his  flesh.  There  is  the  noble 
army  of  martyrs,  who  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things 
and  gave  up  life  itself  for  the  love  they  bore  his 
name.  There  is  the  entire  array  of  those  of  every 
age,  and  out  of  every  clime  and  nation,  who  have 
lived  the  life  of  faith  and  gotten  the  victory  over 
sin  and  corruption  j  the  real  heroes,  the  true  nobil- 
ity of  earth,  living  and  d}dng  in  obscurity  and  pov- 
erty it  may  be,  hidden  from  the  sight  of  men,  de- 
spised, maligned,  suffering  obloquy  and  reproach, 
of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  their  names 
emblazoned  on  no  scroll  of  fame,  yet  held  in  honor 
there  and  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life.  There, 
too,  are  our  own  kindred  and  friends  who  have  de- 


PROFESSOR   GREEN. 


parted  iu  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  Gospel,  not  as 
we  knew  them  here  in  the  feebleness  of  mortal  clay, 
but  transfigured  and  transformed,  made  equal  unto 
the  angels,  made  like  to  the  Son  of  God  himseK. 
What  a  goodly  assemblage  is  this,  what  a  world  to 
be  introduced  into!     What  invigoration  to  every 
holy  principle,  what  stimulus  to  every  right  affec- 
tion, what  enlargement  of  soul,  what  confirmation 
in  all  that  is  right  and   good !     What  pulses  of 
heavenly  life  would  grow  out  of  the  very  contact 
with  the  heavenly  world !     So  that  we  can  here  see 
one  reason  why  the  loving  Redeemer  did  not  end 
his  supplications  when  he  had  prayed  that  his  peo- 
ple should  be  kept  from  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world ; 
but  he  likewise  adds,  "  Father,  I  vnR  that  they  also, 
whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am." 
And  then  the  world  itself,  in  which  we  live,  ham- 
pers and  restrains  us.    All  that  we  are  conversant 
with  here,  our  occupations,  pleasures,  possessions, 
bind  our  hearts  to  earth  and  hold  us  back  from 
God.     The  \dsible,  tangible,  and  outward  obtrudes 
itself  upon  us  at  ever\^  turn.     We  are  surrounded 
on  every  hand  and  at  all  times  by  sensible  things ; 
they  force   themselves  upon   our  attention,  they 
engage  our  thoughts.     The  necessities  of  our  daily 
existence  compel  us  to  be  largely  occupied  with 
them.     What  shall  we  eat,  what  shall  we  drink. 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  9 

wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed?  are  questions 
that  are  daily  recurring  and  cannot  be  pushed  alto- 
gether aside.  But  the  spiritual,  the  heavenly,  and 
the  divine  are  out  of  sight  and  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  of  our  senses.  It  is  only  by  faith! that  we  are 
assured  of  them.  It  requires  an  effort  to  bring 
them  before  our  minds,  and  constantly  repeated 
efforts  to  keep  them  there.  The  clamor  and  din 
of  worldliness  so  stim  our  ears  that  we  fail  to  hear 
the  appeals  that  God  and  eternity  and  salvation  are 
making  to  us.  And  as  the  hand  held  near  the  eyes 
will  shut  out  from  sight  the  immense  globe  of  the 
sun,  so  do  the  temporal  and  the  fleeting  and  the 
unsubstantial  things  of  earth,  by  sheer  proximitj^, 
to  a  great  extent  exclude  from  our  thoughts  and 
our  affections  things  that  are  eternal  and  unchang- 
ing, the  true,  enduring  realities.  We  are  fettered 
by  sense,  and  we  can  no  more  emancipate  our- 
selves from  these  bonds  than  we  can  rid  ourselves 
of  the  law  of  gravitation  and  soar  upward  to  the 
stars. 

We  are  not,  indeed,  left  whoUy  without  help  in 
this  matter.  We  have  the  Word  of  God,  revealing 
things  to  us  in  their  just  proportions,  recording 
the  unerring  judgments  of  the  Most  High  regard- 
ing earth  and  heaven,  things  present  and  things  to 
come.     We  have  the  sacred  ordinances  and  means 


10  PROFESSOR   GREEN, 

of  gi*ace,  which  ai-e  channels  of  divine  influence 
upon  oiu*  souls.  We  have  our  Sabbaths  and  sea- 
sons of  devotion,  when  divine  things  do  or  should 
wholly  engage  oiu'  thoughts  and  are  brought  near 
to  us )  when  the  world,  its  scenes  and  cares,  are 
shut  out,  and  God  and  Chiist  and  salvation  occupy 
our  minds.  Nevertheless  we  are  at  an  immense 
disadvantage  all  the  while.  We  know  that  the 
earth  is  as  a  point  compared  with  the  vastly  greater 
magnitude  of  the  fixed  stars  that  stud  the  nightly 
heavens.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  that  we  know  and 
believe,  we  cannot  alter  the  fact  that  they  do  appear 
differently  to  outward  sense.  The  world  seems  to 
be  of  enormous  size,  and  the  star  but  a  twinkling, 
inconsiderable  point.  But  if  om'  position  were 
changed,  how  would  everything  alter  and  adjust 
itself  at  once  !  If  instead  of  standing  on  the  earth 
we  were  transported  to  the  star,  that  twinkling 
point  would  become  the  boundless  globe,  and  this 
tiny  earth  would  vanish  out  of  sight. 

It  is  possible,  indeed,  by  divine  grace  to  live  even 
in  this  cold  and  frozen  region.  God  can  and  does 
preserve  his  children  from  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world.  There  is  a  stunted  vegetation  in  the  midst 
of  polar  snows  which  continues  to  exist  even  in 
those  dreary  desolations,  checked  and  benumbed 
in  the  long  night  and  dreadful  winter,  but  never 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  11 

wholly  extinguislied ;  so  that  when  the  siin  returns 
— though  his  rays  fall  aslant  and  are  shorn  of 
much  of  then-  fervor — and  the  frozen  gi-ound  is 
slightly  thawed  at  the  surface,  these  little  plants 
peep  up  in  their  brief  summer  and  put  forth  then* 
tiny  leaves  and  open  theii'  little  buds,  in  a  manner 
at  once  surprising  and  beautiful  to  behold.  Yes, 
the  abounding  goodness  of  God  has  produced  and 
maintains  life  even  there,  though  all  about  is  so 
deadening  and  uncongenial.  And  there  are  grace- 
ful forms  of  beauty  to  admire,  and  lovely  tints  and 
handiwork  that  speaks  of  the  skill  of  the  great 
Artist.  The  adventurous  voyager  who  has  pushed 
his  bark  amid  the  perils  of  the  icy  sea  to  that  re- 
mote inhospitable  region  beholds  them  with  aston- 
ishment. Yet  they  are  weak  and  puny  after  all. 
They  cannot  be  otherwise,  from  the  conditions  of 
their  growth.  The  marvel  is  that  they  can  exist  at 
all.  What  are  they  in  comparison  with  the  size 
and  beauty  and  endless  variety,  and  rich,  bewilder- 
ing profusion  and  boundless  range  of  tropical  vege- 
tation, where  the  fertile  earth,  warmed  by  the  con- 
stant rays  of  the  vertical  sun,  sends  up  its  teeming 
products,  covering  continents  with  giant  forests 
and  a  limitless  expanse  of  verdure,  gorgeously  ar- 
rayed with  painted  bloom,  grass,  shrubs,  and  trees 
crowding  every  inch  of  space,  decked  with  gay  flow- 


12  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

ers  of  every  brilliant  hue,  boughs  bending  beneath 
their  burden  of  luscious  fruits,  the  air  filled  with 
agreeable  perfumes,  and  the  odor  of  sweet  spices 
wafted  from  every  side.  Shall  not  the  great  Hus- 
bandman transplant  what  with  immense  care  he 
has  been  nurturing  here  amid  chilling  blasts  and 
inhospitable  winters  into  the  paradise  prepared  for 
them  above,  where  "  everlasting  spring  abides  and 
never- withering  flowers  "  ?  Into  what  new  and  vig- 
orous life  shall  they  not  develop,  what  unexpected 
beauty  shall  they  not  unfold,  what  noble  growths 
shall  arise  out  of  these  sparse  and  stunted  forms  ! 

It  is  possible  to  maintain  the  life  of  God  in  this 
unfriendly  world,  though  at  this  vast  distance  from 
our  Father's  house,  the  great  realities  removed 
from  sight,  and  everything  about  us  tending  to 
draw  us  away  from  our  true  end.  It  is  neverthe- 
less possible  to  learn  to  see  God  in  ever}i:hing  and 
to  serve  God  in  aU  we  do,  whether  we  eat  or  drink, 
stiU  glorifying  him  5  to  live  near  to  God  at  all 
times,  to  walk  with  him  in  aU  the  concerns  of  every 
day  as  a  man  walketh  with  his  friend,  to  grasp  the 
eternal  substance  to  the  disregard  of  the  fleeting 
shadows,  even  though  these  latter  press  themselves 
upon  every  sense  and  the  former  can  only  be  at- 
tained to  by  an  earnest  struggle.  It  is  possible  by 
the  grace  of  God  to  lead  a  life  of  faith,  to  walk  by 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  13 

faith  and  not  by  outward  sense  j  to  resist  the  temp- 
tations to  worldliness  and  self-indulgence  and  self- 
seeking  which  grow  out  of  eveiy  circumstance  of 
our  situation,  out  of  our  necessary  occupations,  and 
out  of  our  most  innocent  pleasures  5  to  hold  out 
even  against  the  solicitations  of  our  great  adver- 
sary, which  beset  us  on  every  side,  and  the  snares 
with  which  he  would  entangle  us  to  our  ruin.  And 
what  is  the  hardest  of  all,  it  is  possible  to  maintain 
a  successful  fight  against  one's  own  inward  corrup- 
tions. For  we  have  to  contend  not  only  against 
the  world  and  Satan,  but  against  our  own  evil  pro- 
pensities and  passions,  against  the  law  of  sin  which 
is  in  om*  members,  the  flesh  lusting  against  the 
spirit,  and  the  spmt  struggling  against  the  flesh ; 
oui'selves  at  war  against  ourselves,  treachery  with- 
in leagued  with  foes  without,  so  that  we  cannot  be 
sure  even  of  ourselves,  and  dare  not  trust  ourselves. 
Our  most  dangerous  enemies  are,  in  fact,  within. 

And  yet  in  spite  of  all  and  through  all  God's 
children  may  be  kept,  and  are  kept.  God  giveth 
them  the  victory.  But  it  is  at  the  price  of  inces- 
sant vigilance.  It  is  by  a  perpetual  struggle,  and 
they  carry  on  their  warfare  at  fearful  odds.  They 
may  be  thankful  if  they  come  off  with  their  lives 
from  the  desperate  encounter.  They  cannot  well 
avoid  being  scarred  and  wounded  in  the  fight  5  and 


14  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

they  will  be  obliged  to  drag  themselves  along  in 
their  forced  marches,  faint  with  fatigue  and  loss 
of  blood,  dispirited  sometimes  and  almost  disheart- 
ened, as  though  the  war  would  never  end.  But  it 
shall  end,  and  end  gloriously,  too.  Oh,  what  loud 
ringing  cheers  go  up  from  the  lips  of  the  veteran 
soldier  as  he  catches  sight  of  the  flag  of  victory, 
and  sees  the  signal  displayed  which  tells  him  that 
the  ranks  of  the  foe  have  everywhere  given  way  in 
disordered  rout !  The  field  is  won.  The  victory  is 
assured.     The  weary  campaign  is  over. 

Friends  gather  tearful  around  the  pallid  corpse 
— the  face  in  meek  repose,  the  eyes  closed,  never 
to  weep  again,  the  bosom  still,  never  to  heave  an- 
other sigh.  But  the  glad  spirit,  which  has  taken 
its  upward  flight  from  that  wasted  form,  is  already 
singing  its  new-born  song  of  thanksgiving  and 
triumph  before  the  throne,  and  rejoicing  in  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  Savioui^'s  prayer,  "Father,  I  will 
that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with 
me  where  I  am." 

This  prayer  of  Jesus  looks,  as  we  have  now  seen, 
to  the  deliverance  of  his  people  from  a  world  of 
sin.  It  has  another  negative  feature  of  great  pre- 
ciousness  at  which  we  must  also  glance  before  we 
can  proceed  to  consider  the  positive  blessings  which 
it  contemplates.     This  is  also  a  world  of  suffering 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  15 

and  sorrow ;  and  when  the  Saviour  prays  that  they 
whom  the  Father  has  given  him  may  be  with  him 
where  he  is,  he  prays  that  they  may  be  released 
from  all  the  suffeiing  and  the  sorrow  that  the 
world  contains. 

Not  but  there  is  much  here  to  be  thankful  for, 
much  true  happiness,  much  to  enjoy,  many  prolific 
springs  of  satisfaction  and  delight.  This  world 
has  with  the  most  benevolent  regard  to  the  wants 
of  our  nature  been  adapted  to  minister  to  our  grati- 
fication. Every  sense  is  an  inlet  of  pleasure,  and 
the  objects  are  numberless  from  which  this  pleas- 
ure may  be  derived.  Light  is  sweet  to  the  eyes. 
The  ear  is  charmed  with  melody  of  sound.  Food 
has  a  reUsh,  which  delights  our  taste.  Our  intel- 
lectual natui-e  is  aroused  and  pleasurably  excited 
by  the  multitudinous  objects  of  knowledge,  which 
excite  our  interest  and  stimulate  inquiries  that  are 
their  own  reward.  Our  social  nature  finds  satis- 
faction in  the  company  of  friends  and  solace  in  all 
that  is  engaging  and  delightful  in  domestic  life. 
And  for  oui'  spiritual  nature  there  is  graciously 
provided  the  joy  of  salvation,  the  joy  of  pardoned 
sin,  the  joy  of  holy  intercourse  with  God  and  com- 
munion with  his  saints,  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  passes  through  every  gi-adation  from  calm 
and  peaceful  frames  to  raptures  that  are  unspeak- 


16  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

able  and  full  of  glory.  There  are  numerous  sources 
of  rich  enjoyment  in  this  world  which  it  would 
argue  criminal  ingi-atitude  to  overlook  or  to  depre- 
ciate. There  are  fountains  of  elevated  and  rational 
gratification  at  which  we  may  di*ink  and  drink 
again.  He  who  has  a  thankful  heart  for  God's 
mercies  will  always  find  mercies  in  his  lot  to  be 
thankful  for. 

And  yet  we  cannot  annul  the  fact  that  God  has 
cursed  the  ground  on  wliich  we  tread  for  the  sins 
of  men.  It  brings  forth  thorns  and  thistles^  and 
man  must  wring  his  bread  from  it  by  the  sweat 
of  his  brow.  He  is  born  to  trouble,  and  this  is  a 
heritage  from  which  he  cannot  escape.  He  who 
expects  perfect  and  unalloyed  satisfaction  here  ex- 
pects what  never  can  be  found.  The  same  sensitive 
organization  which  renders  us  susceptible  to  pleas- 
ure exposes  us  likewise  to  pain.  Every  possibility 
of  gratification  involves  a  corresponding  liability 
to  suffering.  Every  added  possession  is  a  new  lia- 
bility to  loss.  Each  glad  anticipation  shows  us 
capable  of  its  reverse,  the  poignancy  of  disappoint- 
ment or  the  heartsickness  of  hope  deferred.  He 
who  can  smile  can  weep.  Joys  that  bloom  may 
wither  on  the  stem,  and  the  bright  morning  may 
be  overcast  with  clouds.  What  anxieties  gather 
around  every  valued  treasure  !     Oh,  the  distressing 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  17 

instability  of  eai'thly  good  !  How  it  casts  its  bale- 
ful shadow  over  eveiy  scene  of  present  enjoyment ! 
Who  knows  what  shaU  be  on  the  morrow  ?  Riches 
take  to  themselves  wings  and  fly  away.  Friends 
that  gather  around  us  like  the  birds  of  spring  may 
also,  like  birds  of  passage,  take  their  flight.  And 
the  nearest,  dearest  group  of  all,  the  precious  do- 
mestic chicle — ah !  each  beloved  form  only  pre- 
sages the  anguish  of  an  additional  parting  that 
sooner  or  later  must  take  place. 

From  this  instability  of  earthly  good,  and  expos- 
ure to  privation  and  suffering,  the  people  of  God 
have  no  exemption.  They  have  the  same  liabilities 
to  pains  and  losses  and  griefs  as  other  men.  They 
have  their  fuU  share  of  ti'ials  and  afflictions.  They 
are,  in  fact,  characteristically,  as  a  class,  the  afflicted 
and  the  sufferers.  The  petition  of  their  Lord  that 
they  should  be  kept  from  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world  does  not  screen  them  from  outward  troubles. 
On  the  contrar}^,  our  heavenly  Father  uses  trouble 
and  affliction  as  chastisements  for  their  good  5 
though  for  the  present  not  joyous  but  grievous, 
they  work  out  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness. 
Through  much  tribulation  it  is  ordained  that  they 
should  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  Whom 
the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scoui^geth  every 
son  whom  he  receiveth."     This  is  designed  to  pro- 


18  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

mote  theii-  highest  welfare  by  the  infinite  love  and 
grace  of  him  who  doeth  all  things  well.  But  the 
bitter  is  still  bitter  j  and  it  makes  us  shudder  as  we 
swallow  it,  though  we  know  there  is  healing  in  the 
draught.  And  the  sorrows  of  God's  children  are 
no  less  keenly  felt  because  they  have  learned  sub- 
mission to  the  divine  will  and  reverently  kiss  the 
rod.  The  very  tenderness  of  their  heart  makes 
them,  in  fact,  more  sensitive  to  the  stroke  j  and  it 
adds  a  new  element  of  poignancy  to  their  grief 
that  his  hand  of  love  should  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  afflict  them. 

And  then  there  is,  besides,  a  large  class  of  pain- 
ful experiences  which  are  pecuhar  to  pious  souls. 
There  are  inward  griefs  and  apprehensions,  and 
distressing  doubts  and  feai's,  and  painful  struggles 
and  mortifications,  and  penitent  tears  and  bitter 
regrets  over  spiritual  delinquencies,  and  periods  of 
depression  and  darkness  from  the  hiding  of  the 
Lord's  face,  and  the  lack  of  that  sense  of  his  favor 
which  is  essential  to  their  inward  peace.  These  are 
trials  that  the  world  knows  nothing  of,  and  yet 
which  sometimes  force  from  the  wrestling,  strug- 
gling child  of  God  deep-drawn  sighs  and  the  half- 
desponding  exclamation,  "Who  shall  deliver  me 
from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  When  will  the  day 
dawn  and  the  shadows  flee  away  ? " 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  19 

Oh,  what  a  blissful  sense  of  rest  shall  possess  the 
ransomed  soul  when  this  weaiisome  round  of  suf- 
fering is  at  an  end — ^when  the  wandering  exile  has 
at  last  reached  his  Fathei^s  house,  and  the  sorrow- 
ing child  of  God  has  found  repose  upon  his  Sav- 
iour's breast ;  the  toils  of  life  all  ended,  its  burdens 
all  laid  down,  the  inward  tumult  stilled.  Hence- 
forth he  shall  have  no  more  experience  of  pain  or 
grief  or  woe,  no  aching  brow,  no  fevered  pulse,  no 
wearied  limbs,  no  load  of  care ;  beyond  all  reach 
of  harm,  safe  from  ever^^  foe,  forever  safe  in 
heaven. 

But  I  must  not  dwell  here :  I  hasten  to  remark 
that  the  petition  of  oui-  Lord  reaches  far  beyond 
all  that  we  have  yet  considered.  Deliverance  from 
this  world  of  sin  and  suffering  is  but  a  preliminary 
implication  in  this  comprehensive  prayer.  It  is 
but  the  necessary  antecedent  to  the  blessedness 
which  he  supplicates  for  his  people,  not  that  blessed- 
ness itself.  He  prays  that  they  may  be  with  him 
and  behold  his  glory.  To  be  absent  from  the  body 
is  to  be  present  with  the  Lord.  To  depart  and  be 
with  Christ,  says  the  Apostle,  is  far  better.  To  be 
with  Christ,  whom,  having  not  seen,  we  love ;  and 
in  whom,  though  now  we  see  him  not,  yet  believ- 
ing, we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glor}^     What  rapture  in  the  thought  of  beholding 


20  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

the  face  of  our  Redeemer  and  oui-  Lord,  who  from 
love  to  us  forsook  the  glories  of  heaven  to  suffer 
and  die  for  our  salvation  j  to  see  the  very  head 
that  was  crowned  with  thorns,  the  hands  that  were 
pierced  with  nails,  the  face  that  sweat  great  drops 
of  blood  in  the  agony  of  the  garden,  the  lips  from 
which  issued  such  words  of  grace  and  tenderness 
and  compassion !  To  see  Jesus,  who  snatched  us 
from  perdition  by  the  sacrifice  of  himseK ;  to  whom 
we  have  clung  by  eager  faith  as  our  only  hope  for 
pardon  and  peace  with  God  and  everlasting  life  j 
that  gracious  Saviour,  who  has  been  our  all-in-all, 
who  has  spoken  peace  to  our  troubled  souls  and 
whispered  to  our  contrite  hearts,  "  Thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee  " ;  who  has  borne  with  us  in  our  weak- 
ness and  our  waywardness  j  who  has  cheered  us  in 
our  hours  of  despondency  and  gloom  5  who  has 
sustained  and  helped  us  by  his  grace  and  led  us  all 
along  our  course,  and  guarded  and  sheltered  us  and 
given  us  the  victory,  and  shed  his  love  abroad  in 
our  hearts,  and  purged  us  from  our  sins  and  de- 
hvered  us  out  of  aU  our  fears,  and  prepared  a  man- 
sion for  us  in  his  own  blessed  abode,  and  opened 
heaven  for  us  and  brought  us  safel}^  there  to  be 
with  him  forever.  Oh,  with  what  bursting  gratitude 
and  joy  and  love  will  the  ransomed  soul  gaze  and 
gaze  forever,  unwearied,  on  the  sa<;red  form  of  him 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  21 

who  loved  us  and  washed  us  from  oui-  sins  in  his 
own  blood,  while  his  adoring  amazement,  glad  sur- 
prise, and  admiring,  thankful  love  swell  beyond  all 
bounds.  What  higher  idea  can  we  have  of  su- 
preme felicity  than  to  be  with  Jesus  where  he  is  ? 

But  the  petition  of  the  text  proceeds  '^  that  they 
may  behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me." 
The  glory  of  the  uncreated  Son  of  God — what  a 
transcendent  vision  must  that  be !  It  was  a  dis- 
tinguished privilege  to  see  the  Son  of  God  in  human 
form  in  his  lowly  humiliation.  The  apostle  John, 
who  saw  this  form  once  lit  up  by  the  momentary 
radiance  of  the  transfiguration,  and  who  through- 
out his  earthly  ministry  had  seen  the  manifestations 
of  heavenly  love  and  grace  daily  beaming  forth 
from  the  person  of  Jesus,  writes  of  what  was  thus 
displayed  on  earth  before  his  own  eyes,  ''  We  have 
seen  his  glory,  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father."  And  our  Lord  said  to  his  disciples  that 
companied  with  him  during  his  abode  on  earth, 
"  Blessed  are  the  eyes  which  see  the  things  that  ye 
see :  for  I  tell  you,  that  many  prophets  and  kings 
have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and 
have  not  seen  them."  To  see  the  Son  of  God  even 
when  he  walked  in  Judea  and  in  Galilee  in  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  to  feel  that  the  man  before 
us  is  really  the  incarnate  God ;  to  see  tokens  of  a 


22  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

power  resident  in  him  to  which  all  nature  yielded 
prompt  obedience ;  to  see  the  tempest  hushed  and 
the  raging  waves  subside  at  his  command ;  to  hear 
that  voice  which  opened  the  eyes  of  the  bhnd  and 
gave  hearing  to  the  deaf  and  life  to  the  dead,  and 
with  divine  authority  could  say  to  a  weeping  sin- 
ner, ^'Thy  sins  ai-e  forgiven  thee  "5  to  have  him 
tell  us  of  heavenly  things  who  has  been  himself  in 
heaven,  and  testifies  what  he  has  seen,  and  teU  us 
of  God,  who  had  been  with  God  from  eternity,  and 
was  God;  to  behold  him  who  is  the  very  image 
of  the  invisible  God,  to  observe  the  perfections  of 
the  Godhead  miiTored  in  his  life  and  coming  forth 
in  all  his  acts — what  awe  would  possess  our  souls 
as  we  reverently  gazed  upon  the  form  of  God  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh !  And  what  an  unspeakable  priv- 
ilege it  would  be  to  be  permitted  to  feel  in  our 
own  souls  the  power  of  that  presence,  and  to  place 
ourselves  beneath  the  molding,  quickening,  saving 
energy  which  emanated  from  him.  What  a  com- 
panionship would  this  be,  beyond  all  parallel  of 
privilege  or  blessing  on  earth !  Such  honor  was 
granted  to  the  early  disciples  of  our  Lord.  But  no 
mortal  eye  was  ever  permitted  to  behold  his  un- 
veiled glory. 

Earth  has  its  brilliant  spectacles,  its  grand  and 
showy  pageants,  such  as  the  splendors  of  a  corona- 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  23 

tion,  when  the  resources  of  an  empire  are  sum- 
moned to  add  magnificence  to  royalty.  The  mon- 
arch all  ablaze  with  jewels  and  regal  decoration ; 
his  attendant  guards  and  princely  retinue  with 
brilliant  and  varied  uniforms  and  streaming  ban- 
ners, with  martial  music  moving  in  stately  proces- 
sion amid  chiming  bells  and  peals  of  artillery  and 
surging  masses  wild  with  enthusiasm  and  rending 
the  air  -vvdth  loud  acclaim ;  the  spacious  and  vener- 
able halls  proudly  adorned;  the  imposing  cere- 
monies, the  insignia  of  royalty  displayed,  the  crown 
and  the  scepter  committed  to  him  who  holds  them 
by  hereditary  right  from  a  long  line  of  kings  traced 
back  to  remote  antiquity,  and  representative  of 
an  acknowledged  sway  over  widespread  dominions 
and  millions  of  loyal  population — all  this  is  grandly 
impressive. 

But  what  is  all  the  pomp  and  majestic  greatness 
of  earth  to  the  splendors  which  suiTOund  the  mon- 
arch of  the  skies  ?  The  brilliancy,  which  is  feebly 
represented  by  the  sun  shining  in  its  strength ;  the 
great  white  throne,  and  from  the  face  of  him  that 
sits  on  it  the  earth  and  heavens  flee  away;  the 
surrounding  multitudes  of  the  heavenly  host,  angels 
that  excel  in  strength,  celestial  principalities  and 
powers;  thousand  thousands  minister  unto  him, 
and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  stand  before 


24  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

him,  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  an- 
cient of  days,  his  kingdom  an  everlasting  kingdom, 
his  word  a  word  of  omnipotence,  his  scepter  sway- 
ing the  universe;  himself  adored  and  worshiped 
and  praised  by  countless  multitudes  of  glorious 
and  holy  creatures,  who  ascribe  to  him  without 
ceasing  blessing  and  honor  and  glory  and  power. 

Oh,  the  unimagined  magnificence  of  the  scene 
that  opens  to  the  gaze  of  him  in  whom  the  petition 
is  fulfilled,  "  Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom 
thou  hast  given  me,  be  with  me  where  I  am,  that 
they  may  behold  my  glory." 

And  while  the  soul  of  the  glorified  saint  is  rav- 
ished by  the  sight  of  these  divine  splendors,  it  is 
chiefly  the  thought  that  this  exalted  glory  is  the 
glory  of  Jesus  which  transports  him  with  the  most 
supreme  dehght.  The  Sa\dour  whom  he  has  feeblj^ 
tried  to  love,  whom  in  his  feeble  measure  he  has 
sought  to  glorify,  and  in  whose  spreading  kingdom 
here  on  earth  he  has  found  his  liveliest  satisfac- 
tion, is  praised  as  he  cannot  praise  him.  How  it 
rejoices  him  to  see  in  place  of  the  poor,  unworthy 
tribute  rendered  to  Jesus  on  the  earth,  the  exalted 
homage  of  the  skies ;  to  see  that  Jesus  is  praised 
and  adored  by  multitudes  on  multitudes,  who  honor 
him  as  he  deserves  to  be  honored  and  adored ;  to 
see  that  if  the  earth  is  slack  in  rendering  him  horn- 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  25 

age,  all  heaven  is  vocal  with  liis  praise ;  that  such 
glory  lias  been  given  him  by  his  Father  as  is  com- 
mensiu-ate  with  the  greatness  of  his  redeeming 
work ;  and  that  notwithstanding  the  poor,  imworthy 
return  which  is  all  that  he  can  render  to  this  ador- 
able and  gracious  Saviour,  he  has  received  an  ade- 
quate reward  for  all  his  love  and  all  his  pains  in 
the  exaltation  and  glory  which  have  in  consequence 
been  bestowed  upon  him.  And  if  the  ransomed 
soul,  transported  with  the  spectacle  of  his  Redeem- 
er's glory,  can  do  no  more,  he  can  at  least  with  a 
rejoicing  heart  add  one  more  voice  to  the  universal 
choi-us,  ^'  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  re- 
ceive power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength, 
and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 

But  the  rapture  of  gazing  is  not  all  that  is  linked 
with  beholding  the  glory  of  Christ.  How  can  one 
stand  in  the  sunshine  and  not  be  illuminated,  or 
approach  the  fire  and  not  be  warmed,  or  be  set  in 
constant  contact  with  the  beautiful  and  the  true 
and  not  be  instructed  and  refined?  The  glory  of 
Christ  is  not  a  mere  spectacle  to  be  passively  be- 
held, but  a  power  ever  radiating  forth  upon  those 
who  gaze  upon  it.  It  not  only  entrances  with  de- 
Ught,  it  is  transforming.  Life,  holiness,  salvation, 
stream  forth  from  liim  who  is  the  fountain  of  life 
and  heaUng.     Even  here  at  this  vast  distance,  be- 


26  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

holding  in  his  Word  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  we  are  changed  into  the  same  image ;  the 
work  of  transformation  and  sanctification  goes  for- 
ward, though  with  much  remaining  imperfection. 
But  there  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is.  To  be  with  Jesus  and  to  behold  his 
glory  is  to  be  eveiy  moment  drinking  in  with  every 
sense  the  knowledge  of  him  whom  to  know  is  eter- 
nal life.  It  is  to  be  brought  with  no  intei-posing 
hindrance  into  the  most  intimate  communion  and 
fellowship  with  him  who  is  the  overflowuig  foun- 
tain of  all  good,  and  by  whom  we  shaU  be  filled  to 
the  utmost  of  our  ever-enlarging  capacities  with 
the  fullness  of  God. 

But  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  limit  of  the 
Saviour's  petition  in  the  text.  Though  we  have  long 
since  passed  the  boundaiy  of  all  that  tlie  human  nund 
can  comprehend,  or  imagination  can  conceive,  there 
is  another  particular  yet  to  be  added.  We  know 
not  what  we  say  when  we  utter  it.  We  only  feel 
that  above  these  enrapturing  heights  of  glory,  of 
which  we  have  been  endeavoring  to  catch  a  faint 
and  feeble  glimpse,  there  rises  yet  another,  higher 
and  more  glorious  still. 

When  Jesus  prays  that  his  people  may  behold 
his  glory,  he  means  something  more  than  that  they 
should  witness  a  spectacle,  even  with  the  added 


CHRIST'S  DESIRE  FOR  HIS  PEOPLE.  27 

thought  that  this  spectacle  should  produce  a  bene- 
ficial and  transforming  effect  upon  them.  He 
means  not  to  have  them  stand  like  Moses  on  the 
top  of  Pisgah  to  view  afar  the  enchanting  prospect 
of  the  Canaan  he  should  never  enter.  To  ^'see 
death ''  is  in  Scriptiu'e  phrase  not  merely  to  witness 
it  but  to  experience  itj  to  "see  corruption"  is  to 
become  a  prey  to  corruption ;  to  "  see  sorrow "  is 
to  be  sorrowful  5  to  "  see  good  days "  is  to  have  a 
glad  and  joyful  time ;  to  "  see  the  kingdom  of 
God  "  is  to  pai-take  of  its  benefits ;  and  to  "  behold 
Christ's  glory"  is  to  be  a  sharer  of  that  glory. 
"  The  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me/'  says  Jesus, 
"  I  have  given  them."  "  To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I 
also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with  my  Father 
in  his  throne."  The  glory  which  beatified  saints, 
behold,  is  their  own.  It  is  the  gloiy  of  then*  Re- 
deemer and  their  Savioui-,  achieved  by  him  for 
them,  bestowed  by  him  upon  them.  They  are 
one  with  him,  and  all  that  he  has  is  theirs. 

But  we  cannot  scan,  we  cannot  even  trace  the 
outline  of  these  pinnacles  of  glory.  The  imagina- 
tion reels  and  thought  is  bewildered,  and  the  sum- 
mits are  hidden  in  the  brightness  of  the  throne 
itself.  We  cannot  follow  the  luminous  upward 
track  of  the  ascending  saint.     He  vanishes  fi-om  our 


28  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

sight  ill  the  blaze  of  ever-accumulating  glory.  We 
only  know  that  the  petition  is  fulfilled,  "  Father,  I 
Tvdll  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  me,  be  with 
me  where  I  am,  that  they  may  behold  my  glory." 

Brethren,  pardon  one  additional  word.  This  is 
the  end  which  Jesus  sohcits  for  all  his  followers  j 
this  is  the  result  which  he  has  contemplated  from 
the  beginning ;  this  is  the  design  of  all  his  work 
for  them ;  this  is  the  design  of  all  his  work  in  them ; 
this  is  the  bm-den  of  his  intercessions  on  their  be- 
half. Is  this  what  we  are  living  for,  and  striving 
after,  and  reaching  unto — the  center  of  our  hopes, 
the  object  of  our  desires,  the  mark  toward  which 
our  sti'uggles  are  directed  ?  Is  om*  heart  fixed  not 
on  an  eartlily  but  a  heavenly  aim,  and  does  this 
enter  into  om^  daily  and  constant  thoughts  and 
plans,  so  that  heaven  seems  to  us  not  a  \dolent 
rupture  of  all  that  precedes,  a  sudden  stop  to  our 
pursuits,  an  abandonment  of  cherished  plans,  a  re- 
versal of  all  that  we  were  engaged  in,  but  rather  its 
legitimate,  expected,  longed-for  consequence,  the  last 
step  forward  in  the  direction  that  we  have  been 
urging  our  way,  and  which  puts  the  proper  finish 
to  our  whole  lives.  Is  our  treasm*e  in  heaven,  or  is 
it  on  the  earth  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  will 
reveal  to  which  world  -we  belong,  and  in  which 
world  we  shall  take  oui*  portion. 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

By  the  LATE  Prof.  Caspar  Wistar  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"Iliai-e  yet  many  things  to  say  unto  you,  hut  ye  cannot  hear 
them  now.  Howheit  when  he,  the  Sjririt  of  truth,  is  come,  he 
n-m  guide  you  into  all  truth :  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  himself ; 
hut  tchatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak:  and  he  will 
shew  you  things  to  come.  He  shall  glorify  me:  for  he  shall 
receive  of  mine,  and  shall  shew  it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the 
Father  hath  are  mine:  therefore  said  I,  that  he  shall  take  of 
mine,  and  shall  shew  it  unto  you.'^ — John  16 :  12-15. 

CHRIST  is  to  be  glorified  by  the  Spirit.  He 
hmnbled  himself  in  his  incarnation,  m  assum- 
ing the  form  of  a  servant,  and  in  submitting  him- 
self to  death.  This  work  is  now  accompUshed. 
The  Father  is  glorified  in  his  obedience,  and  his 
reward  remains.  He  is  to  go  away,  to  go  to  the 
Father,  to  be  glorified  with  that  glor}'  which  he 
had  before  the  world  was  made.  The  Spu'it  dwell- 
ing in  his  humanity,  fills  him  with  the  power  and 
the  glory  of  God,  so  that  what  in  his  humihation 
was  the  veil  of  Godhead,  becomes  in  his  exaltation 
its  adequate  expression.  He  fills  heaven  with  the 
29 


30  PROFESSOR   HODGE. 

splendor  of  the  presence  of  the  glory  of  God,  and 
is  the  object  of  the  adoration  of  saints  and  an- 
gels. But  the  Spii'it  glorifies  Chi'ist  not  only  in 
his  personal  exaltation,  but  in  his  Church:  "He 
shall  glorif}^  nie :  for  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and 
shall  show  it  unto  you."  The  glory  of  Christ  is  to 
be  manifested  in  the  completion  of  his  work  of  re- 
demption. He  has  received  the  Spirit  that  he  may 
give  the  Spirit  to  his  Chui'ch.  This  is  his  ascension 
gift,  which  can-ies  into  execution  the  work  which 
he  came  to  do,  and  thus  manifests  his  glory.  The 
Spirit  is  to  convince  of  sin,  to  work  faith  in  men, 
to  unite  to  Christ,  to  communicate  his  life,  to  pro- 
cure the  victory  over  the  world,  and  to  bring  his 
people  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  glory  in  eternity. 

The  fundamental  fact  with  regard  to  this  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  that  it  is  accomphshed  by 
means  of  the  truth.  Christ  describes  it  as  a 
process  of  teaching.  ''He  shall  take  of  mine, 
and  shall  show  it  unto  you."  ''  I  have  yet  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them 
now.  Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is 
come,  he  will  lead  you  into  aU  truth."  The 
Spuit,  indeed,  as  a  divine  agent,  acts  immedi- 
ately on  the  soul,  imparts  the  principle  of  new 
life,  detei-mines  the  will,  and  influences  the  affec- 
tions :  but  in  all  the  conscious  activities  of  the  soul 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  31 

the  truth  is  the  iustriimeut  by  which  he  works, 
and  the  sphere  of  all  the  activities  of  the  new  life. 
Jesus  promises  the  Spirit  to  enable  believers  to 
keep  his  commandments  5  as  such  he  is  the  "  Spii'it 
of  truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it 
beholdeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him,  but  ye 
know  him,  for  he  dwelleth  in  you."  The  indwell- 
ing Spirit  is  a  spirit  of  knowledge.  He  promises 
the  Spirit  to  unite  to  himself  in  order  to  fruit- 
bearing.  And  again,  he  says  of  the  branches,  in 
order  to  their  fruitfulness,  "Ye  are  clean  through 
the  word  wliich  I  have  spoken  unto  you."  He  is 
to  give  life  5  '^  and  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they 
might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent."  The  promise  to 
prayer  is  conditioned  on  the  revelation  of  his 
name.  The  mystical  theory  of  religion,  therefore, 
which  depreciates  the  truths  of  revelation,  and 
wliich  claims  priority  for  a  divine  love  and  obedi- 
ence, in  immediate  contemplation  and  personal 
communion  with  God,  arrays  itseK  against  the 
plain  teaching  of  Christ.  Because  Christ  identifies 
the  truth  wliich  the  Spirit  is  to  bring  with  the  truth 
which  he  taught.  It  is  of  the  same  character,  and 
addressed  to  the  intelligence,  claiming  faith,  and 
operating  practically  on  the  conscience.  He  had 
taught  them  of  the  Father,  and  the  Spirit  was  to 


32  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

carry  on  his  teaching  to  completion  in  the  same 
way.  And  the  criterion  for  truth  in  the  teaching 
is  not  the  inward  Hght,  making  every  man  a  law 
J;o  himself,  or  the  Chui'ch  as  mediator  of  truth,  but 
it  is  that  what  the  Spirit  is  to  communicate  is  the 
things  of  Chi'ist.  "  He  shall  take  of  the  things  that 
are  mine,  and  show  them  to  you : "  thus  identifying 
his  whole  revelation  of  truth  in  his  person  and 
teaching  with  that  which  the  Spu-it  should  after- 
ward communicate.  To  love  this  truth  is  to  love 
the  Spirit ;  to  look  away  from  the  Scriptures  for 
the  truth  is  to  give  eay  to  other  spirits,  to  whose 
teaching  there  is  attached  no  promise  of  the  revela- 
tion of  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 

I.  In  this  supreme  promise  of  our  Saviour  we 
see  the  unity  of  the  dispensations.  The  salvation 
promised  is  wrought  by  Christ ;  and  the  Spirit  se- 
cui-es  it  to  every  believer.  Regeneration,  sanctifica- 
tiou,  glorification,  are  his  work,  and  tliis  work  is 
radiant  with  light  and  love,  because  it  consists  in 
bringing  Christ  to  us,  in  binding  us  to  him,  and  in 
making  all  our  service  to  be  replete  with  his  pres- 
ence and  to  tend  to  his  glory. 

II.  In  this  promise  we  read  clearly  the  basis  of 
our  faith  in  revelation,  and  in  the  inspiration  of  the 
writings  of  the  New  Testament.  An  acute  com- 
mentator has  remarked  that  at  John  14 :  25,  2G  we 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  33 

have  the  warrant  for  the  inspiration  of  the  Gospels : 
''  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  being  yet 
present  with  you.  But  the  Comforter,  which  is  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my 
name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all 
things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have 
said  unto  you."  And  here  also  is  the  warrant  for 
the  inspiration  of  the  Epistles:  "When  he,  the 
Spu'it  of  truth,  is  come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all 
truth.  ...  He  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  show 
it  unto  you." 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  the  authority 
of  the  Master  could  be  conveyed  to  the  teaching 
of  the  disciples  more  emphatically  than  is  here 
done  by  Christ.  He  identifies  his  teaching  and 
the  teaching  of  the  Spiidt  as  parts  of  a  whole: 
his  teaching  is  carrying  out  my  teaching;  it  is 
calling  to  remembrance  what  I  have  told  you ;  it 
is  completing  what  I  have  begun.  And  to  make 
the  unity  emphatic,  he  explains  why  he  had  reserved 
so  much  of  his  own  teaching,  and  committed  the 
work  of  revelation  to  the  Spirit.  He,  in  his  incar- 
nation and  Hfe,  comprised  all  saving  truth.  He 
was  the  revealer  of  God  and  the  truth  and  the  life. 
But  while  some  things  he  had  taught  while  yet  with 
them,  he  had  many  things  to  say  which  must  be 
postponed,  because  they  could  not  bear  them  yet. 


34  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

He  had  taught  them  of  the  spirituahty  of  his  king- 
dom, of  its  universal  apphcation,  of  the  duties  to 
God  and  man  which  it  demanded,  of  the  love  of 
the  Father  in  our  salvation,  of  his  own  divine  claims 
and  the  necessity  of  faith  in  him.  He  had  taught 
them  of  the  necessity  of  his  dying  in  order  to  their 
coming  glory ;  but  they  were  so  preoccupied  with 
the  notions  of  a  temporal  kingdom  that  the}^  could 
not  bear  the  conception  of  the  cross.  He  had 
taught  that  his  kingdom  was  for  all  men ;  but  their 
Jewish  pride  could  not  brook  the  idea  that  salva- 
tion was  by  faith  only,  and  on  equal  terms  for  all 
men  J  these  truths  they  could  not  bear.  There 
was  the  natural  limitation  of  their  receptivity  to 
be  estimated.  The  change  from  the  old  to  the  new 
order,  the  idea  of  the  incarnation  and  of  the  king- 
dom to  be  established,  were  an  intellectual  revolu- 
tion quite  enough  for  one  generation  to  receive 
and  to  realize.  There  were  their  Jewish  prejudices 
to  be  considered,  which  colored  all  theu'  concep- 
tions, and  perverted  their  apprehension  of  the  truth 
which  Christ  taught.  Besides  this,  the  full  concep- 
tion of  the  relation  of  Christ's  death  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  Atonement  could  not  be  positively  formu- 
lated until  after  his  death  had  occurred  5  nor  the 
adequate  apprehension  of  his  divine  claims  and 
mediatorial   government  attained  until  after  the 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  35 

resurrection  and  the  ascension  had  afforded  the 
material  facts  upon  which  the  doctrine  was  based. 
And  still  more,  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  at 
Pentecost  was  essential  to  illumine  their  minds  and 
convey  the  promised  inward  strength,  by  which  they 
could  understand  these  stupendous  truths.  What 
is  old  to  us  was  new  to  them ;  what  is  full  of  spir- 
itual attraction  to  us  required  for  them  the  renun- 
ciation of  the  most  cherished  hopes ;  what  is  to  us 
most  manifestly  divine  seemed  to  them  to  contra- 
dict the  express  teaching  of  their  Scriptm-es.  So 
Christ,  as  a  wise  teacher,  imparted  the  germ  of 
truth  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it,  and  when  he 
promised  the  Spirit  to  carry  forward  this  teaching 
he  made  it  impossible  to  conceive  of  it  as  differing 
in  kind,  or  in  any  essential,  except  mode  of  revela- 
tion. He  was  to  take  of  the  things  which  were 
Christ's,  and  show  them  to  the  disciples. 

That  this  promise  to  the  disciples  is  specific,  and 
constitutes  them  the  inspired  teachers  of  the  Church 
after  them,  is  proved  first  of  all,  (1)  by  the  circum- 
stances of  Christ's  address  to  them.  They  are  in 
the  upper  chamber,  at  the  last  supper,  separated 
from* the  body  of  believers,  plunged  in  grief  at 
the  approaching  separation.  He  tells  them  that 
his  departure  means  his  exaltation,  and  that  his 
exaltation  means  his  giving  them  the  Spirit,  who 


36  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

should  teach  them  all  things.  He  distinguishes 
them  from  others  when  he  prays  for  them,  and  not 
for  them  only,  but  for  all  who  should  after  believe 
'Hhi'ough  their  word." 

(2)  It  is  proved  next  by  the  whole  history  of 
their  selection  and  separation  from  the  body  of 
disciples,  to  be  witnesses  for  him,  both  of  his  res- 
urrection and  of  his  teaching.  "The  Comforter 
shall  testify  of  me,  and  ye  also  shall  bear  witness, 
because  ye  have  been  with  me  from  the  beginning." 
'^  As  the  Father  hath  sent  me  into  the  world,  so 
have  I  sent  you  into  the  world."  "  Whoso  heareth 
you  heareth  me,  and  whosoever  receiveth  me  re- 
ceiveth  him  that  sent  me."  "If  they  have  not 
kept  my  saying,  how  shaU  they  keep  your  word  ? " 
It  is  one  of  the  central  facts  of  the  life  of  Christ 
that  the  work  of  founding  and  instructing  the 
future  Church  was  prepared  for  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  body  of  Apostles,  and  the  charism  of 
the  Spiiit  is  but  the  necessary  qualification  for  the 
work. 

(3)  It  is  seen  further  in  the  great  commission 
specially  given  to  the  eleven,  to  go  into  all  the 
world,  "and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost." 

(4)  It  is  seen  still  further  in  the  scope  of  the 


THE  PROMISE   OF   THE  SPIRIT.  37 

promise  given  to  them.  This  is  not  simj^ly  to  en- 
lighten them,  so  that  they  ^vould  spiritually  appre- 
hend essential  truth,  so  that  their  faith  should  not 
rest  on  human  evidence  but  on  the  power  of  God. 
It  is  more  than  that  the  Spirit  should  so  unfold 
the  truth  that  they  should  be  able  to  apprehend 
the  love  of  God,  and  be  sanctified  and  prepared 
for  heaven.  It  is  that  they  should  complete  his 
work.  That  primary  revelation  of  truth,  which 
was  to  be  authoritative  for  the  Church  and  de- 
mand the  faith  of  all,  and  which  he  had  only  par- 
tially made,  they  were  to  make  complete.  The 
Spirit  should  take  of  the  things  wliich  were  his. 
And  the  measure  and  scope  of  this  truth  is  stated : 
"  AU  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine ;  there- 
fore I  said  that  he  shall  take  of  mine  and  shaU 
show  it  unto  you."  Evidently  whatever  of  divine 
truth  is  communicable,  in  its  whole  comprehensive 
scope  and  sublime  elevation,  is  here  conveyed.  No 
human  intellect  can  embrace  the  measure  of  this 
bestowment.  No  Christian  Church  can  claim  to 
have  exhausted  it.  There  are  illimitable  heights 
and  depths  here,  which  belong  alone  to  the  Divine 
Being,  and  can  characterize  a  vehicle  of  truth  only 
such  as  the  Spirit  of  God  himself  can  constitute. 
^\niich  wiU  you  have,  the  Bible  to  open  to  you  the 
eternal  depths  of  the  Di\dne  Being,  or  the  mystic's 


38  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

consciousness  when  he  reduces  to  expression  the 
summary  of  his  feelings  f 

(5)  But  if  on  the  one  hand  we  find  Christ  giving 
ffhthority  to  the  disciples,  and  on  the  other  the  dis- 
ciples after  Pentecost  assiuning  authority  on  the 
ground  of  Christ's  appointment,  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible  that  we  must  accept  from  them  their 
own  statement  as  to  the  natiu'e  and  extent  of  their 
inspiration.  It  is  therefore  a  perfectly  logical  posi- 
tion, as  it  is  the  only  Scriptural  position,  that  our 
doctrine  of  the  inspii'ation  of  the  wi-itings  is  to  be 
derived  from  the  T\Titings  themselves.  If  Ckrist 
has  referred  us  to  the  Apostles  as  teachers  of  the 
truths  which  he  would  have  us  know,  certainly 
this  primary  truth  of  the  authority  of  the  Script- 
ures themselves  can  be  no  exception.  AU  ques- 
tions as  to  the  extent  of  this  inspiration,  as  to 
its  exclusive  authority,  as  to  whether  it  extends 
to  words  as  well  as  doctrines,  as  to  whether  it  is 
infallible  or  inerrant  or  not,  are  simply  questions 
to  be  referred  to  the  Word  itself.  Whenever  it 
claims  authority  we  are  bound  to  accord  it  abso- 
lute trust. 

The  question  of  inerrancy,  which  upon  these 
principles  must  be  reduced  to  the  very  naiTOwest 
limits,  can  be  a  question  to  be  determined  by  ob- 
servation  onlv  when  it  can  be  shown  that  it  is 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  39 

covered  by  no  claim  of  authority;  for  where  an 
apostle  makes  that  claim  we  must  hear  him  as  we 
would  hear  Christ.     And  that  for  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  the  teaching,  in  the  separate  writings  of 
the  New  Testament  as  well  as  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  a  whole,  they  do  claim  authority  as  the 
guides  of  faith,  as  the  rule  of  life,  can  be  denied 
only  by  very  reckless  assertion.     We  read  it  in  the 
stress   laid  on  the  fact  of   then-  appointment  by 
Christ ;  in  the  constant  m-gency  with  which  Paul 
claims  his  equality  on  this  point  with  the  original 
apostles  5  in  the  express  assertion,  "  I,  Paul,  an  apos- 
tle, not  of  men,  neither  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ, 
and   God  the  Father,  who  raised  him  from   the 
dead."     We  read  it  in   the  constant  demand  for 
faith  in  their  message  and  obedience  to  their  in- 
junctions.    It  is  implied  in  their  indignant  rejection 
of  all  humanly  devised  error  which  would  contradict 
or  modify  the  Gospel  as  they  had  taught  it :  ''  If  any 
man  preach  any  other  gospel  unto  you  than  that  ye 
have  received,  let  him  be  accursed.     But  I  certify 
you,  brethren,  that  the  gospel  which  was  preached 
of  me  is  not  after  man,  for  I  neither  received  it  of 
man,  neither  was  I  taught  it,  but  by  the  revelation 
of  Jesus  Christ."     We  see  it  in  the  whole  conception 
of  the  Gospel  as  a  body  of  revealed  ti-uth  committed 
to  them,  and   by  them  to  the  Church,  which  the 


40  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

Church  is  bound  to  guard  as  its  peculiar  trust,  and 
for  the  sake  of  which,  specifically,  the  organization 
of  the  Church,  with  its  specified  ofiices,  was  in- 
stituted according  to  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  We 
read  it  most  clearly  in  Paul's  argument  in  1  Corin- 
thians, where  he  contrasts  the  vahdity  and  effect 
of  revealed  truth  with  the  speculations  of  phi- 
losophy :  "  Now  we  have  received,  not  the  spirit  of 
the  world,  but  the  Spirit  which  is  of  God ;  that  we 
might  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us 
of  God.  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  the 
words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth;  combining  spiritual 
things  with  spiritual;"  i.e.,  spiritual  truths  with 
spiritual  words.  We  see  it  in  the  miraculous  at- 
testations to  which  apostles  appealed  to  support 
their  claim  of  supernatural  authority.  And  we  see 
it  in  the  unity  of  the  Scriptures ;  in  the  accord  of 
apostolic  teaching  with  the  teaching  of  Chi'ist;  in 
the  historic  development  of  the  revelation,  in  ac- 
cord with  the  existing  wants  of  the  churches ;  in 
the  whole  tone  of  divinity,  as  with  tenderness  and 
fidelity  the  divine  oracles  open  to  us  the  deep 
things  of  God.  It  is  one  kind  of  rehgion  to  make 
the  divine  Word  the  test  of  our  characters,  and  to 
be  enabled  by  the  Spirit  to  recognize  its  divine 
quality.     It  is  a  very  different  kind  of  religion  to 


THE  PROMISE   OF   THE  SPIRIT.  41 

bring  the  Bible  to  the  test  of  oiir  religious  feelings, 
and  to  decide  whether  or  not  it  is  of  God  by  its 
accord  with  the  responses  of  those  feelings. 

III.  The  New  Testament  doctrine  of  the  Canon 
bases  itself  on  the  authority  of  Christ  in  this 
promise.  Those  books  which  by  clear  historical 
proof  can  be  shown  to  have  belonged  to  the  col- 
lection given  by  the  apostles  to  the  churches,  or  in 
their  separate  issue  to  have  been  given  by  them  as 
the  revelation  of  truth,  come  to  us  with  the  author- 
ity of  the  apostles,  and  their  authority  conveys 
to  us  the  sanction  of  the  Lord.  As  was  the  Old 
Testament  to  him,  so  he  gives  us  the  New  Testa- 
ment for  our  guidance.  We  are  constantly  told 
that  this  is  antiquated ;  that  it  is  mere  traditional- 
ism; that  the  new  Apologetic  is  based  upon  our 
recognition  of  Christ  in  the  Word;  and  that  the 
Bible  is  truth  to  us  because  ^'  it  finds  us."  Thank 
God  if  it  finds  us !  So  does  Tennyson  find  us,  and 
so  do  Shakespeare  and  Seneca  and  Sophocles.  If 
we  are  to  judge  by  the  opposition  to  some  of  the 
distinctive  doctrines  of  the  Bible,  it  is  only  part  of 
it  that  "  finds  us."  It  finds  us  when  it  tells  us  that 
we  are  weak  and  need  help ;  but  when  it  tells  us 
we  are  guilty  and  need  forgiveness,  we  are  not  so 
sure  of  it.  It  finds  us  when  it  offers  a  better  life 
and  a  better  hope ;  but  when  it  declares  the  right- 


42  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

eous  judgment  of  God  on  all  sin,  the  response 
becomes  very  weak.  It  finds  us  when  we  read  of 
the  universal  Fatherhood  of  God,  of  the  unfathom- 
able love,  of  the  helpful  sympathy  of  Christ ;  but 
when  it  tells  of  the  resplendent  justice  on  which 
the  creature  cannot  look  and  live,  or  of  the  atoning 
sacrifice,  or  of  the  sovereignty  of  grace,  there  is  no 
inward  response.  This  new  conception  of  God,  to 
which  the  milder  and  more  loving  theology  of  this 
end  of  the  century  has  come,  is  not  the  God  of 
the  Bible.  The  New  Testament  only  has  given  us 
Jesus  Christ.  Surely  we  cannot,  on  the  claim  of 
the  authority  of  Christ,  reject  the  authority  of  the 
New  Testament ! 

IV.  The  promise  of  the  Spirit  is  the  promise  of 
spiritual  illumination  to  all  believers.  It  is  con- 
fessedly difficult  in  the  interpretation  of  this  dis- 
course of  our  Saviour  to  distinguish  accurately 
what  applies  to  apostles  only,  and  what  to  the 
Church  at  large;  what  conveys  the  promise  of 
inspiration,  and  what  of  spmtual  illumination  to 
all  believers.  And  yet  the  distinction  is  essential ; 
for  if  it  be  disregarded,  if  the  promises  of  revela- 
tion and  inspiration  be  appUed  to  aU  believers,  the 
authority  of  the  apostles  and  their  wi'itings  is  re- 
duced to  the  common  level  of  the  religious  thought 
of   men  of   peculiar  genius  and   peculiar   ad  van- 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  43 

tages;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  inward  light 
common  to  all  is  elevated  to  equal  or  superior 
authority  to  the  Word  of  God.  It  is,  however,  in 
analogy  with  the  general  teaching  of  Christ  that 
his  doctrine  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  should  be 
given  in  the  germ,  and  not  unfolded ;  in  its  broad 
outlines,  and  not  specialized.  And  as  we  have 
found  clear  evidence  that  some  of  these  words  can 
be  realized  in  their  full  sense  only  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  apostles,  so  we  find  no  less  clear  proof  that 
the  supreme  gift  of  the  Spii-it  is  not  confined  to 
them. 

And  this  proof  consists,  first,  in  the  fact  that 
he  assigns  to  the  work  of  the  Spirit  now  prom- 
ised the  imparting  of  the  Chi'istian  life,  in  all 
its  graces  which  are  the  common  heritage  of  all 
believers.  The  Spirit,  who  is  to  lead  us  into  truth, 
is  thereby  to  unite  us  to  Christ ;  to  constitute  the 
life  of  Christ  in  his  Church  j  to  bring  to  us  the  love 
of  the  Father;  to  enable  us  to  beheve  in  Chi'ist; 
to  work  in  us  obedience  to  his  will ;  to  secure  the 
hearing  of  prayer ;  to  cause  us  to  bring  forth  finiit 
unto  God ;  to  gain  the  victory  over  the  world ;  and, 
finally,  to  bring  us  to  the  beatific  vision  of  God  in 
the  better  life.  Obviously,  the  promise  is  not  ex- 
clusively to  the  apostles. 

The  second  proof  is  the  close  relation  between 


44  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

the  spii'itual  illumination,  which  is  common  to  all, 
and  the  superadded  revelation  and  inspiration, 
which  is  promised  to  the  apostles.  They  need  this 
spiritual  knowledge  and  personal  apprehension  of 
the  truth  before  they  can  convey  it  to  others.  It 
is  no  mechanical  but  a  H^ing  force  that  lifts  them 
to  heights  of  view  of  divine  things  v/hence  they 
discern  the  glories  of  Chi-ist  and  convey  them  to 
us.  In  his  measure — not  of  authority  to  others, 
not  as  the  teacher  of  the  whole  Church,  but  for  his 
own  spiritual  satisfaction — the  humblest  Chi'istian 
has  in  kind  the  same  knowledge  of  the  divine 
power  and  light  and  gi-ace  which  is  in  the  Word  of 
Christ  as  had  Paul  or  John. 

And  thirdly,  as  before,  the  promise  of  authority 
to  the  apostles  points  us  to  their  own  teaching  for 
the  fuller  unfolding  of  the  distinction  between  that 
grace  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  com- 
mon and  necessary  for  all,  and  those  peculiar  gifts 
which  make  then-  wiitings  authoritative. 

These  truths,  which  only  the  Spmt  can  com- 
municate, can  only  be  apprehended  by  the  Spirit. 
Precisel}^  then*  divine  quality,  which  separates 
them  from  all  other  deliverances  of  truth,  is  only 
apprehended  by  a  divine  influence  in  the  soul. 
The  life-giving  power,  which  conveys  faith  and  love 
and  hope,  which  goes  from  the  particular  truth  to 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  SPIRIT.  45 

the  relations  and  sees  ttie  harmonies  and  beauties 
of  the  whole,  which  sees  in  the  Word  in  all  its 
parts  the  revelation  of  the  Father  and  the  glory  of 
the  Son,  is  by  spu-itual  discernment.  This  blessed 
gift,  comprehending  all  gifts,  is  thus  the  unity  of 
the  Christian  hfe,  bringing  Chi'ist  to  dwell  in  us ; 
and  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Word,  by 
the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  it  works  out  our 
complete  salvation,  for  "He  takes  of  the  things 
that  are  Christ's,  and  shows  them  unto  us." 

Your  future  ministry  is  cast  in  times  of  great 
theological  unrest.  Foundations  are  broken  upj 
truths  long  accepted  are  brought  anew  into  ques- 
tion ;  the  very  principles  upon  which  the  certitude 
of  belief  is  to  rest  are  under  debate.  There  is  no 
use  in  these  days  for  men  of  a  light  and  easy 
temper,  who  make  up  their  judgment  hastily  on 
the  most  vital  questions,  or  who  Uke  to  be  in  the 
advance  of  all  changes,  and  easily  renounce  the 
most  sacred  of  heritages.  Men  should  be  sober 
and  thoughtful ;  they  should  be  students  of  histor}^ ; 
they  should  be  prayerful  students  of  the  Bible. 
Change  is  not  necessarily  advance.  The  majestic 
testimony  of  the  Church  in  all  time  is  that  its  ad- 
vances in  spiritual  life  have  always  been  toward 
and  not  away  from  the  Bible,  and  in  proportion  to 
the  reverence  for,  and  power  of  realizing  in  prac- 


46 


PROFESSOR   HODGE. 


tical  life,  the  revealed  Word.     The  watchword  of 
the  modern  school  is,  on  every  hand,  ''Back  to 
Christ !  "     Surely  we  say  ^'Amen !  "    From  every 
departure   of  thought  or  life,  let  us  go  back  to 
Christ.     But  it  is  one  thing  to  reahze  afresh  the 
life  and  teaching  of  Christ  in  the  historic  spirit, 
in  relation  to  what  is  to  come,  as  the  germinal 
planting  of  a  future  harvest  of  life  and  doctrine ; 
it  is  a  very  different  thing  to  go  back  to  Christ  by 
the  rejection  of  all  subsequent  revelation,  which  is 
based  on  his  authority  and  is  the  Uving  develop- 
ment of  his  teaching.     They  tell  us  that  it  is  not 
the  "Christ  of  the  creeds"  to  whom  we  should  go. 
"  The  Church  has  lost  the  Spu-it  of  Christ,"  it  is 
said,  "because  she  has  attended  to  the  doctrines 
about  him,  confining  her  conception  in  scholastic 
forms,  disputing  about  consubstantiahty,  and  per- 
son, and  natui-e,  and  satisfaction  to  justice,  and 
thereby  losing  the  living  pulse  of  sympathy  and 
love  and  practical  life  in  his  teaching."     So  far 
as  the  Chm-ch  has  sacrificed  life  to  mere  theological 
science,  it  is  to  be  repented  of  and  amended.     But 
when  the  process  of  generalization  and  definition 
and  coordination  of  Scripture  facts  is  sneered  at, 
the   charge   is   simple  puerility;    and   when    the 
assertion  is  that  logical  definition  has  interfered 
with  reverential  love  and  obedience,  it  is  reckless 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  SPIRIT,  47 

slander  of  the  Spii'it-led  liistory  of  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

We  are  pointed  back  of  the  Chi-ist  of  the  Church 
theology  to  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament.  But 
we  cannot  stop  there.  Because  the  Christ  of  Paul  is 
not  the  living  and  personal  Christ,  but  a  person  of 
theological  debate.  The  questions  of  preexistence, 
of  revelation,  of  humihation,  of  exaltation — espe- 
cially the  legal  aspect  of  his  work,  satisfying  jus- 
tice and  working  righteousness — have  begun  this 
process  of  "  disastrous  disfigai'ement "  of  the  sacred 
things,  whicli  the  Chui'ch  has  carried  onward.  We 
must  not  rest  in  apostolic  conceptions,  but  go  back 
to  the  fountain-head,  the  historic  Chi*ist  of  the 
Gospels.  But  even  here  the  Christ  of  John  has 
already  begun  to  be  overlaid  with  foreign  specula- 
tive elements.  Tender,  sublime,  spii-itual,  offering 
mystical  union  and  exalting  love  indeed,  but  at  the 
same  time  asserting  with  unfaltering  authority  his 
equality  with  God,  asserting  that  life  depends  on 
faith  in  him,  magnifying  the  divine  sovereignty 
and  efficacious  gi-ace.  Here  are  speculative  ele- 
ments which  may  interfere  with  the  simplicity  and 
truth  of  the  figure,  and  we  therefore  come  back  to 
the  Christ  of  the  Synoptic  Gospels.  But  there  we 
are  cautioned  that  these  Gospels  were  wi-itten  late 
in  the  life  of  the  Church,  and  we  must  carefully 


48  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

tlistinguish  between  wliat  Christ  really  did  and 
taught,  and  what  is  ascribed  to  liini  by  the  growing 
misconception  of  the  Church  theology.  And  when, 
at  last,  we  have  reached  this  teaching,  rich,  pro- 
found, divine,  containing  in  germinal  form  the 
whole  of  the  ti-uth  afterward  communicated  by  the 
Spirit,  we  are  still  fui'ther  taught  that  we  must 
discriminate  carefully  in  the  teaching  of  Christ 
himself  between  what  belongs  merely  to  the  prej- 
udices of  his  day  and  generation,  and  the  message 
that  he  is  commissioned  of  God  to  impart.  He 
comes  not  with  infallible  revelation,  teaching  the 
things  of  God  out  of  his  conscious  omniscience, 
we  are  told;  but  one  tells  us  that  his  Messianic 
consciousness  grows  out  of  his  consciousness  of 
ethical  oneness  vAih.  God  ]  and  another  that  it  is  an 
inference  fi'om  his  universal  love  for  men  and  his 
desire  for  their  salvation.  In  the  one  sphere  he  is 
not  only  limited  in  knowledge,  but  may  be  entirely 
mistaken.  In  the  other  sphere  he  brings  to  us  the 
truth  which  is  our  life.  And  we  are  to  distinguish, 
by  the  light  within,  what  is  really  of  Chi-ist  and 
what  is  not. 

We,  on  our  part,  accept  this  motto,  ''Back  to 
Christ."  And  as  his  parting  word,  we  hear  him 
tell  the  disciples  that  he  would  send  the  Spii'it, 
who  should  lead  them  into  all  truth.    We,  on  this 


THE  PROMISE  OF   THE  SPIRIT.  49 

authority,  accept  tlie  teacliiiig  of  Paid  and  John 
concerning  him.  And  so  far  as  the  Chiu-ch  has  by 
this  promised  guidance  unfolded  the  truth  of  reve- 
lation, we  accept  her  interpretation  of  the  Script- 
ui-es.  Here  is  the  New  Testament  criterion  of  truth. 
Here  is  Christ's  most  sacred  parting  legacy.  Here 
is  our  choice  of  method.  Which  do  you  choose, 
Christ  or  Barahbas  ?  Away  from  Christ,  as  im- 
parted by  the  Spu-it,  we  may  not  have  the  life  he 
promises.  For  his  promise  to  the  Church  to  be 
with  it  alway  to  the  end  of  the  world  is  by  that 
Holy  Spirit. 


VALIANT  FOR  THE  TRUTH. 

By  the  late  Prof.  Charles  A.  Aiken,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 

'^And  they  bend  their  tongues  like  their  bow  for  lies :  hut 
they  are  not  valiant  for  the  truth  upon  the  earth  ;  for  they  pro- 
ceed from  evil  to  evil,  and  they  know  not  me,  saith  the  Lord." — 
Jeremiah  9 : 3. 

rriHE  reading  of  the  Revised  Version  gives  us  a 
-^  slight  change  in  the  form  of  the  rendering, 
without  altering  essentially  the  conception :  "And 
they  are  grown  strong  in  the  land,  but  not  for 
truth  J  for  they  proceed  from  evil  to  evil,  and  they 
know  not  me,  saith  the  Lord." 

If  the  fact  be  so,  and  the  prophet's  arraignment 
of  his  people  be  true,  his  bitter  grief  is  abundantly 
justified.  The  omen  is  of  evil,  and  evil  only.  Let 
it  be  from  ignorance,  mistake,  moral  imbecility, 
cowardice,  or  a  more  positive  and  flagrant  dis- 
loyalty, when  men  are  strong,  but  not  for  the  truth, 
valiant,  but  not  for  the  truth,  the  sign  is  of  present 
evil  and  greater  evil  to  come.  Therefore  the  prophet 
would  seek  in  the  wilderness  a  lodging-place  of 

50 


VALIANT  FOR    THE   TRUTH.  51 

wa^^aring  men,  where,  his  head  waters  and  his 
eyes  a  very  fountain  of  tears,  he  might  weep  for 
the  slain  of  the  daughters  of  his  people. 
.  You  have  not  forgotten  how  fine  a  picture 
Bunyan  sketches  in  his  '^  Pilgrim's  Progress  "  of  one 
who  is  ''  valiant  for  truth."  It  is  just  as  Chi-istiana 
and  her  children  are  entering  upon  the  eighth  and 
last  step  of  their  pilgrimage  that  Greatheart  and  his 
company  overtake  this  hero.  Refusing  to  join  the 
three  who  had  beset  him,  Wildhead,  Inconsiderate 
and  Pragmatic,  refusing  also  to  go  back  at  their 
bidding,  he  had  fought  them  and  put  them  to 
flight,  caring  nothing  for  numbers,  because  "  little 
or  more  are  nothing  to  liim  that  has  the  truth  on 
his  side  " ;  praying  to  his  king,  "  who  I  knew  could 
hear  me  and  aiford  invisible  help,  and  that  was 
sufficient  for  me "  j  using  confidently  and  to  good 
purpose  'Hhe  right  Jerusalem  blade  in  his  hand, 
with  which  one  may  venture  upon  an  angel " ;  at 
the  same  time,  with  the  practical  earnestness  and 
energy  that  come  of  faith,  clinging  to  his  sword- 
hilt  with  a  grip  so  firm  that  the  blood  ran  through 
his  fingers ;  and  when  he  was  asked  to  give  account 
of  his  former  Life,  summing  up  all  by  saying,  "  I 
believed,  and  therefore  came  out  and  got  into  the 
way,  fought  all  that  set  themselves  against  me, 
and  by  believing  am  come  to  this  place."     Plainly, 


52  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

whatever  his  valor  might  be  he  knew  and  pro- 
claimed that  its  spring  was  in  his  faith.  This  is 
the  t}^e  of  character  which  our  text  by  contrast 
bi'ings  before  us.  Over  such  a  robust  and  valorous 
faith  there  were  no  need  to  weep  one's  eyes  away 
in  the  wilderness. 

It  may  be  worth  our  while  to  study  this  type  of 
character  in  four  aspects :  (1)  In  its  relation  to  the 
nature,  rights,  and  claims  of  truth ;  (2)  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  highest  capacities,  dignities,  and  respon- 
sibihties  of  manhood  ;  (3)  in  its  relation  to  the  just 
caU  and  sore  peril  of  souls  about  us  that  may  be 
saved,  perhaps  saved  by  one  vahant  for  the  truth 
while  no  other  strength  or  valor  would  help  them  j 
and  (4)  in  its  relation  to  our  professed  loyalty  to 
Jesus  Christ. 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  aU  along  the  Ime  of  our 
thought  that  we  cannot  come  even  into  quiet  pos- 
session of  the  truth  without  overcoming  the  oppo- 
sition of  forces,  within  and  without,  which  would 
keep  us  from  it ;  that  we  cannot,  except  by  a  high 
and  sustained  valor,  bring  om-  own  hues  into  true 
and  fuU  conformity  to  the  truth  where  so  much  is 
to  be  accomplished  in  molding  character  and  life 
into  this  likeness,  and  where  antagonism  is  so 
stubborn ;  that  after  we  have  gained  the  truth  and 
begun  to  put  on  the  image  of  the  truth,  we  are  not 


yAUANT  FOR    THE   TRUTH.  53 

to  be  left  in  peace  in  the  enjo^TQent  of  our  pos- 
session and  its  benefits,  but  must  maintain  every 
acquisition  at  the  point  of  the  sword ;  that  we  are 
bound  to  sup23ort  actively  and  aggressively  truth's 
claim  to  a  universal  dominion ;  that  even  in  the 
sorest  exigencies  of  our  own  experience  we  are 
never  for  a  moment  absolved  from  the  obligation 
to  remember  and  care  for  others'  needs  and  perils ; 
and  that  the  glorious  Captain  of  om*  salvation  de- 
serves and  demands  the  service  of  good  soldiers, 
each  stri\T.ng  'Hhat  he  may  please  him  who  en- 
rolled him  as  a  soldier."  And  let  us  fiu'ther  keep 
in  mind  that  valor  is  nourished  and  sustained  by 
truth,  for  which  there  is  no  possible  equivalent  or 
substitute. 

"  Valiant  for  truth."  What,  then,  is  truth,  that 
for  it  one  can  be,  should  be,  valiant?  Truth  is 
real.  Truth  is  accessible  and  may  be  kno\\Ti. 
Truth  is  precious.  Truth  imposes  in  every  direc- 
tion obligations  that  cannot  be  met  except  by  the 
most  genuine  and  resolute  valor. 

If  Home  Tooke  was  right  in  his  et^Tnolog;^^, 
truth  would  seem  to  be  one  of  the  most  uncertain, 
unreliable  of  things,  or  the  instinct  to  have  been  in 
this  case  strangely  at  fault  by  which  names  are 
given  to  things.  He  tells  us  that  truth  is  primarily 
ivliat  one  trowefJi.     To  trow  is  to  think,  believe,  or 


54  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

suppose.  What  the  world  "  troweth  "  is  as  variable, 
doubtful  and  unsubstantial  as  diversities  of  power, 
opportunity,  diligence,  fidelity,  sanity  can  make  it. 
The  best  philologists  of  our  own  generation,  how- 
ever, refer  the  word  to  a  root  meaning,  '^  to  believe," 
and  draw  upon  the  whole  group  of  related  languages 
and  dialects  to  show  that  truth  is  "firm,  strong, 
solid,  reliable,  an}i:hing  that  will  hold."  It  should 
seem,  then,  that  we  ought  not  to  believe  anything 
but  what  is  firm,  established,  and  that  truth  is 
what  we  rightly  believe.  We  are  not  playing  with 
words.  To  the  Hebrew  thought  expressing  itself 
in  word-building,  truth  is  something  that  has  stabil- 
ity, that  is  fixed  and  sure.  To  the  Greek  it  is  the 
unconcealed  reality  of  that  which  had  been  veiled. 
If  this  is  truth,  we  have  in  it  something  to  strive 
after,  something  to  stand  on,  something  to  offer  to 
and  urge  upon  others  that  is  better  than  a  waking 
fancy  or  a  dream  of  the  night.  We  accept  this 
judgment  of  the  great  mind  of  the  race — Hebrew, 
Greek,  Germanic — and  hold  that  tmth  is  the  real, 
the  established,  the  abiding.  For  this  our  highest 
powers  can  be  summoned  into  action,  while  noth- 
ing but  a  poor  counterfeit  of  our  best  activity  can 
be  called  forth  in  behaK  of  that  which  is  known  or 
seriously  suspected  to  be  unreal.  The  sophist  may 
be  adroit,  dexterous  in  disposition  and  argument, 


VALIANT  FOR   THE  TRUTH.  55 

and  selfishly  eager  for  victories.  The  pettifogging 
advocate  in  any  profession  may  gain  brief  successes 
by  natural  powers  and  discipline,  aided  by  sheer 
audacity.  This  is  a  result  and  proof  of  the  world's 
disorder.  Man  is  for  truth  and  truth  for  man — 
both  real. 

And  truth  is  accessible  and  may  be  known.  No 
agnostic  can  be  a  Valiant  for  Truth.  Quixotic 
endeavors  after  the  unattainable  may  supply  enter- 
taining reading  for  idle  hours,  or  possibly  suggest 
curious  studies  in  psychology.  Our  cuiiosity,  busy 
and  scheming,  impertinent  and  sometimes  impious, 
may  direct  its  adventures  toward  lofty  and  distant 
realms  that  are  not  for  us.  Our  real  and  serious 
and  right  concern  is  rather  with  the  truth  that  is 
near,  inviting  and  demanding  knowledge,  threaten- 
ing our  indifference  or  neglect  with  serious  loss  or 
heavy  penalty.  The  realms  are  broad  enough  the 
natural  reason  may  traverse,  incited  by  higher 
motives,  cheered  by  brighter  prospects,  than  ever 
girded  and  sent  out  King  Arthur's  knights,  or  any 
other  heroes  of  the  days  of  chivalry.  But  natu- 
ral reason  is  not  the  only  discoverer  of  truth,  nor 
is  nature  its  only  depository.  Fossils  buried  for 
uncounted  ages  in  the  rocks  are  not  its  only 
prophets.  No  biological  analysis  can  reach  all  its 
elements :  no  scientific  imagination  can  construct 


56  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

its  entire  fabric.  The  statistician  cannot  tabulate 
all  its  facts.  PhilosopherSj  in  the  endless  involu- 
tions and  evolutions  of  their  speculations,  miss 
much  of  it.  He  who  gave  us  reason  and  nature, 
whose  they  are,  and  whom  they  should  ever  serve, 
has  come  in  pity  to  the  relief  of  our  impotence  and 
bewilderment  by  the  disclosures  that  his  Spirit 
makes.  When  we  ask  for  bread  he  does  not 
answer  us  with  stones  and  reptiles  only,  and  bid 
us  get  our  sustenance  from  them.  He  comes  down 
to  us  fi'om  above,  not  always  and  only  up  to  us 
from  below.  To  abase  the  swelling  pride  that 
loves  to  contemplate  itself  as  standing  at  the  top 
of  the  long  development  of  being,  he  tells  us  of  sin 
and  helplessness  and  ruin,  and  then  of  love  and  grace 
and  salvation.  In  the  Gospel  ^'the  grace  of  God 
that  bringeth  salvation  hath  appeared  unto  all  men." 
Here  is  truth  that  is  real.  Here  is  truth  that 
may  be  known.  Of  all  precious  truth,  truth  on 
which  souls  can  be  nourished,  truth  to  which  lives 
can  be  safely  conformed,  here  is  that  which  is  most 
precious — truth  that  enters  most  deeply  and  per- 
manently into  character  and  takes  hold  of  destiny. 
Of  all  truth  worthy  and  suited  to  stimulate  man's 
highest  powers  to  the  most  sustained  and  most  in- 
tense efficiency,  here  is  that  which  is  worthiest 
and  most  suited.     Of  all  truth  that  is  of  such  kind 


VALIANT  FOR   THE   TRUTH.  57 

and  in  such  relations  to  us  that  it  is  not  only 
worth  our  while,  but  in  every  way  incumbent  upon 
us  to  put  forth  our  highest  valor  to  gain  it  and  to 
hold  it,  here  is  the  most  essential. 

We  are  bidden,  "  Buy  the  truth  and  sell  it  not." 
And  this  is  not  a  mere  appeal  to  our  self-interest. 
It  is  not  left  to  the  decision  of  our  taste  whether 
truth  shall  attract  and  please  us  or  not.  It  is  not 
submitted  to  our  mere  option  in  any  way.  The 
world's  wise  men  might  mean  no  more  than  this 
by  the  proverb.  But  what  the  wisdom  of  inspira- 
tion commends,  the  divine  authority  commands ; 
thus  we  gain  the  truth  at  whatever  cost,  and  never 
pai-t  with  it  at  any  price.  Truth,  especially  this 
sacred  truth,  encompasses  us  with  obligations. 
For  this  acquisition  we  do  not  merely  do  well  to 
pay  the  price  of  toil  and  struggle ;  we  fail  grossly 
and  widely  in  duty  if  we  withhold  the  price.  And 
what  we  have  so  dearly  bought  at  the  price  of  our 
humbled  pride,  at  the  price  of  our  falling  out  with 
the  fashion  of  this  world  "which  passeth  away," 
what  we  win  by  the  surrender  of  our  seK-suffi- 
ciency  and  imaginary  independence,  by  our  reso- 
lute seK-mastery,  our  vigorous  effort,  and  what- 
ever besides  the  attainment  may  cost,  we  are  to 
hold  against  all  seductions  and  all  assaults,  "val- 
iant for  the  truth." 


58  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

Our  second  question  was  to  be :  What  is  the 
manly  valor  that  can  find  any  fair  and  proper  field 
for  its  exercise — its  fairest  and  most  proper  field 
4ii  connection  with  truth  ?  What  is  the  relation  of 
truth  on  the  one  side  to  valor,  and  on  the  other  to 
manhood  ?  Yalor,  a  word  that  caiTies  us  back  so 
easily  to  the  days  and  the  deeds  of  knightly  prow- 
ess, adventui-e  and  achievement,  starts  with  the 
primary  idea  of  health  and  strength.  It  is  not 
mere  boldness,  bravery,  courage,  but  moves  in  a 
liigher  plane,  and  is  instinct  with  a  loftier  inspira- 
tion. These  may  have  their  source  chiefly  in  the 
physical  and  animal,  that  which  we  share  with  the 
bull-dog  and  the  gorilla ;  while  valor  is  a  knightly 
grace,  and  makes  account  mainly  of  the  ideal. 
Medieval  chivalry  was  sometimes  fantastic  in  its 
manifestations.  Yet  in  those  centuries  which  in- 
tervened between  general  barbarism  and  our  mod- 
ern civilization  it  did  much  to  lift  men  out  of 
their  gi'ossness.  It  was  a  fighting  grace;  yet  it 
had  much  to  do  with  the  whole  character.  To  be 
a  valiant  soldier  was  more  than  to  be  robust  and 
fearless.  Of  course  we  recognize  different  types 
and  degrees  of  valor,  as  well  as  different  spheres 
and  occasions  for  its  exercise.  We  shall  esteem 
that  the  truest  valor  in  which  there  is  the  fullest 
consciousness  and  manifestation  of  manhood,  with 


yALIANT  FOR   THE  TRUTH.  59 

the  clearest  conception  and  the  most  persistent  ad- 
herence to  worthy  ends  of  manly  endeavor.  There 
can  then  be  nothing  forced  or  unnatural  in  the 
phrase  of  our  text,  "  valiant  for  the  truth." 

For  what  should  a  true  man  be  vahant  rather 
than  for  the  acquisition,  maintenance,  and  service 
of  the  truth — truth  known  as  real,  judged  to  be 
important,  valued  as  precious?  And  what  esti- 
mate must  we  put  upon  the  manhood  that  can  be 
"strong  in  the  land,  but  not  for  truth" — ener- 
getic, daring,  resolved,  and  persistent  for  lower 
and  grosser  interests,  but  not  for  the  truth  ?  The 
manhood  that  is  most  sound  and  healthy  recog- 
nizes most  promptly  and  broadly  its  relationship 
to  truth,  knows  its  affinity  for  truth,  responds 
most  heartily  to  the  claim  and  challenge  of  the 
truth,  enlists  with  the  least  of  hesitation  or  re- 
serve in  the  search  for  the  service  of  the  truth. 
"  A  man  who  will  take  the  world  easily  will  never 
take  it  grandly,"  we  are  told.  An  ambitious  man- 
hood sees  in  connection  with  the  truth  prizes  most 
worthy  of  its  ambition.  A  courageous  manhood, 
if  it  might  choose  its  sphere,  would  ask  to  show 
itself  in  behalf  of  so  good  a  cause,  where  the  diffi- 
culties and  perils,  and  the  success,  mean  so  much. 
For  this  it  will  most  patiently  and  thoroughly  dis- 
cipline itseK,  and  toil  most  strenuously.    It  knows 


60  PROFESSOR.  AIKEN. 

that  it  is  vindicating  and  honoring  itself  by  the 
same  activities  by  which  it  is  most  exalting  truth. 
It  can  most  easily,  gladly  and  completely  forget 
itself  and  make  least  account  of  toils  and  pains 
and  cost  when  maintaining  the  cause  of  truth  or 
promoting  some  interest  of  oui'  fellow-men  in  con- 
nection with  the  truth.  And  this  choice  and  devo- 
tion find  a  quick  and  large  reward,  as  truth  min- 
isters to  the  manliness  that  offers  its  best  in  its 
behalf,  the  richest  rewards  coming,  of  course,  from 
the  highest  moral  and  sphntual  truth.  The  truth 
that  stands  nearest  to  Christ  has  the  best  right  to 
say,  "  Them  that  honor  me  I  will  honor." 

But  looking  beyond  oui'selves,  beyond  results 
anticipated  for  ourselves,  beyond  obhgations  that 
bind  us  in  our  own  behalf,  by  what  caU  from 
without  does  truth  most  authoritatively  and  effect- 
ively summon  valor  to  its  aid?  This  was  to  be 
our  third  inquiry.  "  Victory  in  a  tournament "  of 
olden  time,  the  historian  Hallam  tells  us,  ''was 
little  less  glorious,  and  perhaps  at  the  moment 
more  exquisitely  felt,  than  in  the  field,  since  no 
battle  could  assemble  such  witnesses  of  valor." 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  display  of  valor  be- 
fore the  assembled  beauty  and  rank  of  courts  was 
valued  above  valor  itself.  The  valor  must  exist 
to  be    displayed.     And    before  we   condemn   the 


yALIANT  FOR   THE   TRUTH.  61 

motive  as  "wholly  ignoble  we  should  recall  to  mind 
the  appeal  with  which  the  tweKth  chapter  of  He- 
brews opens:  "Wherefore,  seeing  we  also  are 
compassed  about  with  so  gi'eat  a  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses." These  displays  of  valor  on  the  tented 
field  were  accounted  an  augury  of  triumphs  to  be 
won  on  fields  where  graver  issues  were  at  stake ; 
where  some  imperiled  life  or  treasure  was  to  be 
rescued,  some  essential  but  questioned  honor  to  be 
vindicated,  some  great  wrong  to  be  redressed, 
some  grand  right  to  be  gained  or  defended.  It 
was  not  mere  and  weak  sentiment  that  strove  to 
recover  the  Holy  Land  or  some  sacred  shrine  from 
the  hands  of  the  Paynim,  or  that  followed  the  ban- 
ner of  one's  liege  lord  or  the  standard  of  the  cross 
to  new  conquests.  It  was  worth  much  to  aU  com- 
ing ages  that  high  ideals  should  be  brought  down 
into  the  gross  lives  of  men  and  made  efficient 
there. 

The  first  appeals  which  truth  makes  to  us,  the 
first  obligations  which  it  imposes  on  us,  are  in  its 
own  behaK  and  our  own  behaK.  We  are  first  to 
make  this  rich  endowment  our  own.  Here  is  a 
treasure  that  we  gain  by  finding  it  and  submitting 
ourselves  to  it.  We  do  not  command,  but  sur- 
render. Our  command  is  consequent  upon  and 
proportionate  to  our  obedience,  our  success  to  our 


62  PROFESSOR  AIKEhl. 

submission.  And  the  valor  that  is  called  into 
requisition  before  this  result  is  reached  is  real  and 
of  the  finest  quality.  We  have  the  truth  only 
when  it  possesses  us.  All  other  mastery  must  be 
dislodged,  all  other  dominion  cast  off.  The  effort 
by  which  we  gain,  and  the  grasp  with  which  we  hold 
the  truth,  or  rather  with  which  it  holds  us,  mean 
the  overcoming  of  many  natui'al  and  moral  diffi- 
culties and  opportunities.  Indolence  is  to  be  mas- 
tered, and  all  the  bias  of  one's  nature  to  evil  and 
error.  Stubborn  habits  are  to  be  broken  up,  riot- 
ous and  groveling  tastes  subdued.  Many  a  breach 
is  to  be  made  and  can-ied  in  the  walls  of  prejudice 
and  evil  association,  many  an  abstraction  swept 
away,  many  a  foe  vanquished.  A  good  soldier  he 
wiU  have  proved  himself  who  has  surrendered  and 
subjected  himself  fully  to  the  truth.  But  we  are 
not  at  Hberty  to  look  no  further  than  to  our  own 
enrichment  with  the  amplest  treasui-es  of  wisdom 
and  knowledge,  and  enlargement  of  om-  own  na- 
tui'es,  and  invigoration  of  our  own  powers,  the 
manifold  satisfactions,  enjoyments,  and  dignities 
that  come  to  us  Tvdth  and  by  the  truth. 

Truth  is  imperial,  not  only  in  the  quality  of  the 
authority  which  it  asserts  and  the  richness  of  the 
bounty  which  it  dispenses,  but  also  in  the  breadth 
of  the  dominion  to  which  it  lays  claim.    We  have 


l/ALIANT  FOR   THE  TRUTH.  63 

made  our  first  obedience  when  we  have  yielded 
ourselves  to  the  truth.  We  are  to  go  on  proclaim- 
ing truth's  rights,  and  helping  it  to  gain  rule  over 
others.  We  vindicate  the  rights  of  the  truth  while 
we  secure  blessings  to  our  fellow-men  through 
truth's  ascendency  over  them.  And  this  obligation 
and  opportunity  subject  our  manhood  to  some  of 
the  most  searching  tests  by  which  we  are  ever 
tried.  Are  we  capable  of  taking  larger  \iews  of 
truth  than  those  which  connect  it  with  some  pros- 
pect of  advantage  to  ourselves?  Do  we  esteem  it 
for  what  it  is,  and  not  only  for  what  it  brings  us? 
And  what  is  the  measui-e  of  our  discernment  of 
the  rights  and  needs  of  others— and  what  is  our 
response  ?  His  is  a  poor  starvehng  manhood  that 
cannot  be  stirred  to  interest  and  effort  and  sacri- 
fice in  the  assertion  of  others'  rights  and  the 
promotion  of  theii'  good.  The  knightly  spirit 
prompted  as  much  as  thisj  shall  the  Christian 
spirit  be  content  with  less?  There  is  a  natural 
largeness  of  soul  that  can  appreciate  others' 
jeopardy,  and  stir  itself  to  avert  or  relieve  it.  A 
low  and  common  nature  is  dull  of  sense  to  all  these 
calls  fi'om  without.  It  puts  narrow  interpretations 
on  those  obligations  which  it  cannot  wholly  dis- 
own. The  manly  and  Christian  spu-it  has  large 
conceptions  of  right  and  duty. 


64  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

And  then  truth,  while  imperial  in  its  rights,  is 
sometimes  imperiled  by  denial  and  attack,  and  that 
at  the  hands  of  the  very  men  whose  allegiance  it 
claims.  Its  rights  are  contested  5  its  very  credentials 
are  challenged.  It  encounters  not  merely  the  nega- 
tive resistance  of  ignorance  and  dullness,  of  low 
tastes  and  sensual  and  earthly  preoccupations ;  it  is 
met  by  a  more  positive  impeachment.  He  who  is 
valiant  for  truth  will  no  more  suffer  it  to  fight  its 
own  battles  than  a  true  knight  would  have  resorted 
to  any  such  evasion  in  a  cause  to  which  he  was 
committed.  And  the  response  which  we  make  to 
the  summons  of  assailed  truth  gives  opportunity 
to  display  some  of  the  finest  qualities  that  belonged 
to  the  old  knighthood — unswerving  loyalty,  cour- 
age, endurance,  self-sacrifice. 

Both  New  Testament  and  Old  Testament  em- 
phasize this  part  of  a  good  soldier's  duty  toward 
sacred  truth.  "Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith," 
"knowing  that  I  am  set  for  the  defense  of  the 
Gospel."  "Wherefore,  take  unto  you  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  withstand  in 
the  e\'il  day."  "  Stand,  therefore."  Across  an  inter- 
val of  many  centuries  more,  perhaps  from  the  time 
of  Sennacherib's  siege  of  Jerusalem,  come  those 
stirring  words  of  the  forty-eighth  Psalm:  "Walk 
about  Zion,  and   go   round   about  her:    tell  the 


VALlAhlT  FOR   THE   TRUTH.  65 

towers  thereof ;  mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks."  She 
needs  and  has  her  towers  and  bulwai"ks,  and  there 
is  for  us  a  post  of  duty  there  at  the  defense  of 
truth.  If  Paul  the  aggressive  evangelist  is  an  ex- 
ample for  study  and  imitation,  Paul  the  apologist 
is  no  less  so.  Our  broader  study  of  questioned 
truth  brightens  many  an  evidence,  confirms  many 
a  conviction,  kindles  a  new  enthusiasm  for  the 
assertion  and  defense  of  truth's  claim,  and  subjects 
to  new  tests  our  professions  of  devotion.  It  puts 
to  the  proof  our  aptness,  while  it  calls  forth  our 
energy.  But  truth  is  never  content  to  stand  long 
on  the  defensive.  The  defense  is  soon  turned  into 
attack.  Error  may  be  content  with  compromise ; 
truth  is  satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  estabhshed 
dominion. 

But  there  is  another  call  for  valor  in  behaK  of 
Christian  truth  higher  than  that  which  comes  from 
our  feUow-men  and  their  claims  upon  it.  What 
Christ  is  on  the  one  side  to  the  truth  and  on  the 
other  side  to  us,  and  what  the  truth  is  to  him, 
supply  a  new  inspiration  and  strength,  and  add  a 
new  quality  to  Christian  endeavor — a  personal 
quality  that  was  wanting  before.  He  who  is  val- 
iant for  the  truth  because  of  what  it  is  in  its  real- 
ity and  reliableness  shows  his  discernment.  He 
who  is  valiant  for  the  truth  because  of  what  it  is 


66  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

to  manhood  shows  a  wise  self-appreciation.  He 
who  is  valiant  for  the  truth  because  of  the  claim 
his  fellow-men  have  upon  it,  and  upon  him  if  he 
has  it  in  his  possession,  shows  that  he  knows 
his  place,  his  obligation,  his  opportunity  as  a  man 
among  men.  He  who  is  vEiliant  for  the  truth  for 
Christ's  sake  shows  that  he  knows  and  honors  his 
Lord,  and  would  make  him  indeed  Lord  of  all. 

Consider  what  Christ  is  to  the  substance  of  the 
truth;  what  he  is  to  the  authority  and  efficiency 
of  the  truth ;  and  what  the  truth  is  to  him  in  the 
assertion  and  manifestation  of  his  Lordship. 

The  truth  is  not  only  Christ's  as  its  great  Re- 
vealer ;  the  truth  is  Christ  as  its  gi-eat  revelation. 
"I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life."  If 
we  invert  each  of  these  phrases,  we  are  not  un- 
sound in  logic  or  false  to  fact.  To  liim  who  asks, 
What  is  the  way?  we  answer.  The  tvay  is  Christ. 
To  him  who  would  know,  What  is  the  life?  we 
make  reply,  The  life  is  Christ.  And  we  proclaim, 
as  that  which  is  of  the  highest  concern  to  man  to 
know,  the  truth  is  Christ.  He  is  the  gi'eat  embodi- 
ment of  truth — truth  incarnate.  What  he  was, 
over  and  above  all  that  he  said,  teaches  us  what 
we  should  seek  in  vain  to  learn  elsewhere.  He 
was  the  chief  revelOition  of  the  nature,  the  power, 
the  love,  the  saving  grace  of  God.     What  is  God  ? 


VALIANT  FOR   THE   TRUTH.  67 

What  is  holiness?  What  is  redemption  for  sin- 
ners? He  did  not  simply  speak  as  never  man 
spake  on  these  high  themes.  We  look  to,  we  lay 
hold  upon,  himself,  and  find  that  he  is  made  of 
God  unto  us  wisdom  and  righteousness  and  sanc- 
tification  and  redemption.  This  is  not  bold 
metaphor  merely;  it  is  assui'ed  fact.  "He  that 
hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  We  are 
"complete  in  him."  "In  whom"  (not  merely  by 
receiving  and  following  information  that  he  sup- 
plies) "  we  have  our  redemption  through  his  blood, 
and  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses,  according  to  the 
riches  of  his  grace."  He  did  indeed  bear  a  witness 
above  all  other  witness  to  the  truth.  "  To  this  end 
was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  to  the  truth." 
But  his  witness  was  more  in  what  he  was  and 
what  he  did  than  in  all  that  he  said.  "  Grace  and 
truth  came"  (not  "were  given"  as  the  law  "was 
given"  by  Moses)  by  Christ.  How  this  adds  to 
the  authority  and  to  the  efficiency  of  the  truth! 
And  see  what  use  he  makes  of  the  truth.  By  it 
he  tests  and  measures  men:  his  disciples,  "He 
that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  voice,"  the  voice  of 
the  Teacher,  the  voice  of  the  Truth :  his  enemies, 
"  Because  I  tell  you  the  truth,  ye  beheve  me  not." 
They  reject  in  one  act  the  truth  and  him,  and  show 


68  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

what  they  are.  When  he  shall  enter  on  his  high 
and  awfnl  function  as  judge,  peopling  two  worlds 
as  he  says,  ''Come,  ye  blessed!  Depart,  ye 
cursed ! "  it  is  according  to  the  treatment  of  the 
truth  that  he  makes  his  award.  "  Unto  them  that 
are  factious  and  obey  not  the  truth,  but  obey  un- 
righteousness, shall  be  wrath  and  indignation, 
tribulation  and  anguish." 

Meanwhile  it  is  largely  by  the  instrumentality  of 
the  truth  that  those  who  are  his  ai-e  made  holy — 
"  Seeing  you  have  purified  your  souls  in  yoiu-  obe- 
dience to  the  tmth."  His  Church,  "the  Church  of 
the  living  God,"  is  declared  to  be  ''  the  pillar  and 
ground  of  the  truth."  This  it  can  never  be  by  a 
mere  passive  support  and  upholding  of  a  truth  im- 
posed. The  Church  (eKKXT^aia)  is  a  body  "called 
out"  by  God's  heralds,  his  Spirit,  his  Son,  to  abide, 
to  stand,  to  be  established.  But  however  stable, 
the  hving  Chui'ch  of  the  living  God,  intrusted  with 
the  upholding  of  his  Hving  truth,  must  have  in 
exercise  all  that  is  active,  forceful,  courageous,  and 
aggressive  in  the  Christian  life. 

And  therefore,  because  of  the  fullness  and  sig- 
nificance of  the  several  representations  of  what 
Christ  is  to  the  truth,  and  the  truth  to  Christ,  it  is 
all  the  more  manifest  that  they  who  are  loyal  to 
Christ  will  be  for  this  reason  and  in  this  measure 


VALIANT  FOR   THE   TRUTH.  69 

valiant  for  the  truth.  We  do  no  violence  to  the 
words  of  the  sixtieth  Psahn  when  we  give  them 
this  specific  appUcation :  '^  Thou  [0  Christ]  hast 
given  a  banner  to  them  that  fear  thee,  that  it  may- 
be displayed  because  of  the  truth."  The  banner  is 
a  symbol  of  union  and  allegiance,  a  rallying-point 
for  the  mustering  or  moving  host,  a  continual 
source  of  inspiration.  Moses,  after  the  battle  with 
Amalek,  built  an  altar,  and  called  the  name  of  it 
Jehovah-nissi  ('^The  Lord,"  i.e.,  Jehovah,  '4s  my 
banner").  Those  whose  banner  is  not  only  the 
Lord's,  but  the  Lord  himself,  cannot  need  any 
higher  summons  or  motive  to  be  valiant  for  the 
truth.  This  will  be  to  the  grateful,  loving,  loyal 
Christian  the  motive  of  motives — that  Chi'ist,  his 
Lord,  is  what  he  is  to  the  truth,  and  that  the  truth 
is  what  it  is  to  Christ. 

In  our  day,  however,  many  influences  are  at 
work  to  neutralize  the  effect  of  all  these  considera- 
tions and  appeals.  There  are  subtle  and  plausible 
philosophies  in  vogue,  and  not  among  the  learned 
only,  that  would  make  it  absurd  and  preposterous 
to  be  very  confident,  or  much  in  earnest  in  behalf 
of  the  truth.  Pilate's  question  is  popular :  What 
is  truth?  and  it  is  pressed  upon  us  persistently 
from  many  sides  with  a  sinister  emphasis.  For 
there  are  those  who  doubt,  and  there  are  those  who 


70  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

teach  men  to  doubt,  whether  there  are  any  reliable 
criteria  of  truth — whether  there  is  for  us  any  cer- 
tain truth.  And  there  are  others  whose  material- 
istic faith  reduces  to  a  paltry  minimum  the  worth 
of  truth.  Then  there  is  the  theoretical  secularism 
and  the  practical  secularism,  that  would  have  us 
waive  these  doubtful  and  fruitless  questionings  in 
view  of  the  reality,  the  nearness,  the  urgency  of 
those  material  necessities  and  interests  that  de- 
mand, for  oui'selves  and  for  others,  all  our  thoughts 
and  all  our  efficiency.  It  is  not  the  hoarse  clamor 
of  the  commune  only  which  insists  that  the  ideal 
and  the  spiritual  must  wait  until  more  practical 
problems  are  solved.  The  infatuation  of  pleasure, 
the  idolatry  of  gain,  stifle  in  many  more  even  the 
power  of  appreciating  enthusiasm  and  earnestness 
in  behalf  of  truth. 

In  another  quarter  another  class  of  untoward 
influences  is  at  work,  and  the  issue  of  the  working 
is  not  yet  in  sight.  A  beUef  is  professed  in  higher 
things,  in  the  reality  and  importance  of  truth,  in 
respect  to  which  one  may  possibly  have  deep  and 
strong  convictions,  proiided  he  does  not  in  any 
way  by  word  or  deed  give  too  vehement  or  re- 
peated expression  to  it.  The  air  is  fuU  of  the 
praises  of  catholicity  and  toleration.  Some  hold  it 
presumptuous,  others  grossly  discourteous,  others 


VALIANT  FOR   THE  TRUTH.  71 

scliismatic,  that  confidence  should  be  expressed  and 
earnestness  manifested  in  anything  that  goes  be- 
yond the  commonplaces  of  truth.  Platitudes  are 
admissible  to  any  extent.  Clear-cut  faiths  firmly 
held,  vigorously  defended,  energetically  urged  upon 
others,  are  unfashionable.  We  know,  however,  of 
a  Broad  Churchism,  that  is  tolerant  not  merely  of 
diversities  but  of  contradictions,  that  would  re- 
mand zeal  of  a  type  exhibited  by  prophets  and 
apostles  to  the  centuries  that  are  well  left  behind. 
We  have  heard  pleadings  for  a  thing  so  good  in 
itself,  and  in  measure  good  for  so  many  practical 
reasons,  as  Christian  union,  which  we  find  our- 
selves compelled  to  watch  with  double  scrutiny 
since  they  would  reduce  to  such  a  minimum  the 
truth  that  we  may  be  allowed  to  profess  and  pro- 
claim, and  for  which  we  are  permitted  to  be  valiant, 
and  since  from  that  minimum  so  much  is  excluded 
that  has  been  in  the  past  so  inspiring  to  Chris- 
tian hope,  so  sustaining  to  Christian  strength  and 
heroism.  This  is  an  evil  day  for  polemics  and 
scholastics,  and  dogmatists  and  denominationahsts. 
The  only  man  who  may  be  valiant  without  falling 
into  disrepute  is  the  irenic ;  he  may  be  as  dogmatic 
and  combative  as  you  please.  We  involuntarily 
caU  to  mind  the  unpopularity  of  Elijah,  the  troubler 
of  Israel,  with  Ahab.     In  the  view  of  some  there 


72  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

are  no  other  troublers  of  Israel  like  the  persistent, 
aggressive  behevers  in  truth. 

And  on  still  another  side  constant  pressure  is  put 
upon  us  to  suppress  part  of  our  witness  to  the  truth. 
The  world  is  a  great  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
in\dsible  Church— the  Church  that  does  not  show 
the  power  of  the  truth  and  its  own  unswer\dng  loy- 
alty to  the  truth  by  the  conformity  of  its  life  to  the 
truth.  We  may  be  allowed  to  beUeve  what  we  are 
constrained  to  believe — or  what  we  please— if  only 
we  do  not  let  the  truth  too  much  change  our  conduct. 
Our  creed  may  be  the  longest  and  the  hardest  and 
the  most  obnoxious,  if  we  will  conduct  our  business 
according  to  the  maxims  and  methods  of  the  world 
— entertain  ourselves  with  its  amusements,  follow 
its  capricious  and  imperious  fashions.  If  there  is 
no  very  noticeable  difference  in  life  between  the 
Church  and  the  world,  the  world  wlQ  not  so  much 
trouble  itseK  about  our  belief,  except  now  and  then 
slyly  to  propose  the  pertinent  question,  how  we  rec- 
oncile our  conduct  to  our  creed.  Here,  again,  is  a 
field  in  which  Christian  valor  has  an  opportunity 
to  show  itseK,  in  vindicating  the  right  of  truth, 
and  illustrating  the  power  of  truth  to  rule  the  life. 
In  some  social  circles  this  is  the  severest  test  to 
which  Christian  valor  is  subjected. 

In  view  of  all  this  we  ask,  Has  "Valiant  for 


yALIANT  FOR    THE   TRUTH.  73 

Truth,"  then,  had  his  day  ?    May  we  say  for  him  no 
more  than  ^'  Peace  to  his  ashes  "  ? 

In  our  national  and  social  affairs  a  wholesome, 
timely,  and  needed  reaction  has  begun  to  set  in 
against  the  false  cathohcity  that  was  undermining 
the  public  welfare.  Patriotism  and  statesmanship 
have  begun  to  deal  at  various  points  with  the  ques- 
tion whether  we  have  not  swung  open  somewhat 
too  widely  the  doors  of  our  national  hospitality. 
Our  loud  invitation — '^  Ho,  every  one  !  " — has  gone 
beyond  the  limits  of  pubHc  safet}^  We  are  watch- 
ing somewhat  more  closely  the  immigrants  across 
the  two  gi*eat  oceans.  We  begin  to  question 
whether  we  are  equal  to  the  entertainment,  govern- 
ment and  assimilation  of  such  a  mixed  multitude, 
who  faU  a-lusting  so  soon  and  so  grossly  after 
liberties  and  indulgences  that  are  so  strange,  in- 
tolerable and  abhorrent  to  us.  We  object  to  the 
emptying  upon  our  shores  of  the  poorhouses  and 
prisons  and  slums  and  lazarettos  of  the  Old  World  ,• 
we  send  back  the  imported  refuse,  and  hold  the 
importers  responsible.  Economists,  and  not  dema- 
gogues of  labor  only,  are  writing  on  our  statute- 
books  restrictions  upon  the  unlimited  importation 
of  foreign  labor.  Propositions  are  pending,  or  are 
awaiting  introduction  in  our  national  Senate, 
against  the  free  admission  of  anarchists  and  the 


74  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

deluded  converts  of  Mormon  emissaries.  We  have 
been  stirred  to  a  new  ^dgilance  in  behalf  of  onr 
Christian  and  Puritan  Sabbath,  our  social  purity, 
our  temperate  temperance.  Our  rehgious  press, 
our  home  missionary  societies,  our  Evangelical  Alh- 
ance,  are  arousing  us  to  consider  what  a  vast  work 
we  have  already  accumulated  upon  our  hands. 

Let  the  good  work  go  on.  Let  it  make  us  watch- 
ful in  the  sphere  of  our  religious  life.  The  sons  of 
Covenanters  and  Pilgrims  and  Huguenots — and 
these  were  they  that  laid  the  foundations  both  of 
Church  and  State  among  us — should  not  too  readily 
and  cheaply  sell  their  birthright,  or  sleep  while  it 
is  stolen  from  them.  What  would  they  have  been, 
what  should  we  have  been,  but  for  this  love  of 
truth  and  this  valor  for  the  truth?  We  must 
learn  how  to  enlarge  our  love  without  expense  to 
our  faith  5  how  to  find  and  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  without  the  surrender 
of  truth.  And  in  proportion  as  needs  are  multi- 
plied and  intensified  we  must  be  only  the  more 
loyal  to  the  truth  and  its  Lord,  and  vaUant  for  it 
and  for  him. 


SALVATION  AS  A  WORK. 

By  Pkof.  William  M.  Paxton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"Being  confident  of  this  vei'y  thing,  that  he  tohich  hath  he- 
gun  a  good  work  in  you  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus 
Christ." — Philippians  1:6. 

■^"TT^ORK  is  the  subject  of  this  text.  The  world 
^^  is  full  of  busy  work ;  the  din  of  toil  and 
the  hum  of  industry  is  ever  in  our  ears.  But 
there  is  another  work.  Simultaneous  with  this 
work  of  the  world,  mingling  with  it,  but  rising 
above  it  in  grandeur  and  importance,  is  another 
work — a  di\dne  work — a  work  for  the  salvation  of 
souls.  It  is  a  work  that  has  a  strange  secret  of 
power.  It  is  unseen  and  mysterious.  It  interpen- 
etrates the  world's  work  and  often  overreaches  it. 
It  draws  men  more  effectually  than  the  attractions 
of  the  world's  enjo}Tnents.  It  often  separates  them 
from  worldly  gains  by  the  motive  of  more  enduring 
riches.  This  work  is  going  on  busily  amidst  the 
world's  active  industries.  Its  agencies  are  organ- 
ized; wherever  men  gather  in  the  market-place, 
there  is  one  to  say,  ''  Go  ye  into  the  vineyard."  A 
75 


76  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

divine  message  is  meeting  men  in  every  avenue  of 
life.  The  merchant  hears  it  on  'Change,  and  stops 
to  repeat  the  mysterious  sound,  "  Lay  up  for  yoiu'- 
self  treasures  in  heaven."  The  farmer  stops  his 
plow  in  the  furrow  as  he  listens  to  the  strange 
words,  "  Break  ye  up  the  fallow  ground,  and  sow 
to  yourselves  in  righteousness."  The  workman 
amidst  the  din  and  clank  of  machineiy  hears  a 
still  small  voice,  more  penetrating  than  the  din  of 
toil,  "Turn  ye,  turn  ye,  why  will  ye  die?"  The 
swift  trains  freighted  with  a  nation's  merchandise 
bear  with  them  the  agencies  of  the  Gospel.  The 
ships  that  carry  the  world's  commerce  carry  also 
the  missionary  and  the  Bible  to  extend  this  work 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

This  work  is  not  only,  like  the  world's  work, 
external,  but  also  invisible,  secret,  and  mysterious. 
It  is  a  work  in  the  souls  of  men,  quickening,  re- 
newing, transforming.  It  generates  a  new  life, 
forms  a  new  character,  and  lifts  man  into  alliance 
with  God.  Oh,  there  is  nothing  more  sublime  than 
to  think  that  amidst  all  the  noise  and  turmoil  of 
the  outward  world  this  busy  and  mysterious  work 
is  silently  going  on  in  the  souls  of  men,  assimilat- 
ing them  to  the  divine  image,  and  preparing  upon 
this  earth  the  great  family  of  God  and  the  king- 
dom of  heaven. 


SALyATlON  AS  A  WORK.  Ti 

This  is  the  work  that  is  presented  to  us  in  the 
text.  Salvation  as  a  ivork  is  here  described  in  a 
minute  and  beautiful  detail. 

I.  It  is  a  good  worl.  ''He  who  hath  begun  a 
good  worlc  in  you  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

It  is  good  in  its  experience.  Nothing  is  so  dehght- 
ful  as  salvation,  nothing  else  brings  such  present 
enjoyment,  or  so  meets  the  wants  and  desires  of 
our  troubled  and  agitated  spirits.  In  every  other 
work  we  wander  in  disquietude  through  the  circuit 
of  humanity,  but  this  brings  us  at  once  to  the 
Creator,  and,  having  found  the  center  of  rest  and 
satisfaction,  we  wander  no  more. 

One  distinguished  for  knowledge  and  wisdom 
records  his  experience  of  salvation  thus :  "So  long 
as  I  strove  after  earthly  good  and  earthly  wisdom 
there  was  in  this  striving  nothing  but  restlessness 
and  disquiet ;  but  now  in  the  hope  of  salvation  all 
my  cares  and  desires  have  become  so  tranquiHzed 
that  there  is  continual  peace.''  To  this  he  adds : 
''  I  long  thought  that  life  ceased  when  religion  be- 
gan 5  but,  behold  !  I  have  found  that  then  first  I  lived 
when  I  began  to  love  "  (Tholuck).  Such,  indeed,  is 
salvation  with  every  one  in  whom  the  good  work 
is  truly  experienced.  They  only  then  begin  to  Hve. 
The  past,  with  all  that  they  caUed  pleasure  and 


78  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

enjoyment,  seems  unworthy  to  be  called  life.  The 
new  life  is  so  much  higher  and  nobler,  its  pulses 
beat  with  such  an  intenser  thrill,  and  its  issues  of 
love,  joy  and  hope  impart  such  a  present,  conscious 
bliss,  that  they  seem  as  if  waking  up  for  the  first 
time  to  real  existence.  The  sun  shines  brighter, 
the  earth  is  robed  in  new  beauty,  the  sky  glitters 
with  a  richer  glory ;  existence  assumes  a  grander 
aspect,  action  a  higher  aim,  hope  a  nobler  object, 
and  the  soul  a  sublimer  destiny. 

Such  and  so  good  is  salvation  in  its  actual  enjoy- 
ment. The  language  of  the  Prophet,  in  the  utter- 
ance of  his  own  experience,  is  the  language  of  every 
one  whose  heart  thriUs  under  a  felt  sense  of  salva- 
tion :  ''I  will  greatly  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  my  soul 
shall  be  joyful  in  my  God  5  for  he  hath  clothed  me 
with  the  garments  of  salvation,  he  hath  covered  me 
with  the  robe  of  righteousness"  (Isaiah  61 :  10). 

II.  This  good  tvorJc  is,  secondly j  described  in  the  text 
as  an  inward  or  internal  worJc.  "He  which  hath 
begun  a  good  work  in  yo\iP  It  is  not  a  work  with- 
out, but  a  ivorli  within. 

When  some  visitors  were  admiring  the  books  of 
the  large  library  of  a  pious  prelate,  he  replied,  "  One 
thought  of  devotion  outweighs  them  aU."  This 
was  a  fine  expression  of  the  superior  value  of  that 
which  is  inward  and  spiritual.     True  religion  has 


SALVATION  AS  A  IVORK.  79 

its  visible  and  external  expressions,  but  they  have 
no  value  unless  they  spring  from  a  devout  heart. 
Our  Lord  pointed  out  this  distinction  when  he 
commended  the  gift  of  the  widow's  mite.  Ex- 
ternally and  visibly  the  gift  was  insignificant,  but 
internally  and  spiritually  it  was  of  great  value, 
because  it  expressed  the  devout  self-sacrifice  of  the 
widow's  hesirt. 

It  is  a  great  and  sublime  fact  that  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  third  Person  of  the  blessed  Trinity, 
dwells  in  the  Christian.  True  religion  is  the  new 
life  with  which  he  quickens  the  soul ;  hence  rehgion 
is  essentially  a  work  within.  All  the  issues  of  the 
Christian  life  must  come  from  the  heart.  Re- 
demption is  a  work  without,  a  work  wrought  for 
US;  but  salvation  is  a  good  work  wrought  in  us. 
If  the  external  work  of  redemption  is  not  appro- 
priated and  experienced  in  its  internal  efficacy,  it 
is  aU  in  vain.  Obvious  as  all  this  is,  it  is  strangely 
misconceived  and  perverted.  In  this  age  of  exter- 
nalism,  when  so  much  thought  and  energy  is  ex- 
pended upon  that  which  is  outward  and  material, 
it  seems  impossible  to  get  people  to  understand  the 
inwardness  of  true  rehgion. 

It  is  misconceived  by  many  wlio  mistalce  rites  and 
ceremonies  for  true  religion.  It  -is  the  old  mistake 
of  the  Pharisees,  which  our  Lord  so  strongly  re- 


80  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

buked,  repeated  age  after  age.  They  substitute  the 
form  for  the  power  of  godliness.  The  Scriptures 
everywhere  teach  that  true  religion  consists  in 
truth  and  purity  in  the  inward  parts.  The  Apostle 
Paul  warns  us  that  nothing  outward  is  of  any  avail 
except  as  connected  with  a  devout  heart ;  that  proph- 
ecy, alms-giving,  and  even  martjTdom,  are  noth- 
ing without  love.  "  Though  I  bestow  all  my  goods 
to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be 
burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth  me  noth- 
ing" (1  Cor.  13  :  3).  ''  The  kingdom  of  God  is  not 
meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost"  (Romans  14 :17). 

The  inwardness  of  true  religion  is  also  miscon- 
ceived hy  those  ivho  mistalce  morality  for  religion.  Of 
these  there  are  several  classes.  There  are  rational- 
istic theories  of  ethics  which  sever  morality  from 
religion,  making  religion  simply  a  sentiment  and 
moral  conduct  the  essential  thing.  The  result  is 
to  kill  both  morality  and  religion.  There  are  some 
who  confound  the  work  of  reformation  with  the 
work  of  salvation.  They  imagine  that  because 
they  have  reformed  some  of  their  external  habits 
they  are  Christians.  This  is  often  a  simple  mis- 
take springing  from  an  ignorance  or  misconcep- 
tion of  the  truth  of  God.  There  are  others  (and  in 
this  age  of  external  action  it  is  to  be  feared  it  is  a 


SALTATION  AS  A  IVORK.  81 

large  class)  who  give  themselves  so  exclusively  to 
the  activities  of  what  is  called  Christian  and  benev- 
olent work  that  they  neglect  to  realize  the  inward- 
ness of  true  reUgion  in  their  own  experience,  or  to 
develop  those  interior  elements  of  spiritual  life 
without  which  they  are  "as  sounding  brass  or  a 
tinkling  cymbal."  There  are  still  others  who  seem 
to  have  the  idea  that  morahty  will  produce  religion 
in  then*  hearts ;  and  by  entering  upon  the  practice 
of  moral  duties  they  indulge  the  expectation  that 
this  wiU  lead  to  an  experience  of  religion  in  their 
own  souls. 

All  these  classes  agree  in  one  thing — in  over- 
looking or  ignoring  the  inwardness  of  true  relig- 
ion; failing  to  realize  that  it  is  a  good  work 
wrought  in  them  by  the  grace  of  God.  They  are 
all  attempting  to  make  the  fruit  good  without  first 
making  the  tree  good^  or  to  purify  the  stream  with- 
out first  cleansing  the  fountain.  All  these  efforts 
to  externalize  reUgion  are  included  in  oiu*  Lord's 
rebuke  when  he  said :  "Now  do  ye  Pharisees  make 
clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  the  platter ;  but 
your  inward  part  is  full  of  ravening  and  wicked- 
ness. Ye  fools,  did  not  he,  that  made  that  which  is 
without,  make  that  which  is  within  also  ? "  (Luke 
11 :  39, 40.)  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander  said,  speaking 
to  young  men  :  "  Inward,  inward  we  must  go  for  the 


82  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

true  elaboration  of  gracious  virtues.  We  may  give 
ourselves  too  exclusively  to  visible  activities,  and 
have  to  take  up  the  lamentation,  ^  They  have  made 
me  keeper  of  vineyards,  but  mine  own  vineyard  I 
have  not  kept.'  It  is  a  great  moment  in  a  man's 
life  when  he  awakes  to  the  conviction  that  of  all 
the  works  he  has  to  perform  the  greatest  is  within 
his  own  breast." 

III.  This  good  ivorTi  is,  thirdly,  described  in  the  text 
as  a  divine  ivorh.  "Being  confident  of  this  very 
thing,  that  he  "  (that  is,  God)  "  which  hath  begun  a 
good  work  in  you  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of 
Jessu  Christ."  It  is  a  work  which  God  begins,  per- 
forms (or  carries  forward),  and  finishes  in  the  day 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  seems  rather  singular,  in  view 
of  so  distinct  an  inspired  announcement,  that  this 
should  be  precisely  the  point  of  divergence  between 
the  two  great  theological  systems  which  have  di- 
vided the  Chm'ch  for  so  many  ages.  The  question 
is.  Who  begins  the  work  of  salvation  ?  The  Armin- 
ian  answers,  Man  himself  5  the  first  movement  of 
the  soul  to  God  begins  in  the  self -determining 
power  of  the  human  will.  The  Calvinist,  upon  the 
other  hand,  maintains  that  the  work  begins  with 
God,  and  owes  aU  its  efi&cacy,  in  its  origin,  contin- 
uance and  consummation,  to  divine  gi-ace.  It  is 
easy  to  see  on  which  side  of  the  question  the  Apos- 


SALVATION  AS  A  U^'ORK.  83 

tie  stands^  when  in  the  text  he  attributes  the  whole 
work  from  first  to  last  to  the  power  of  God.  In- 
deed, if  the  Bible  be  received  as  the  word  of  God, 
and  its  simple  teachings  be  left  unadulterated  by 
the  interpretations  of  a  worldly  philosophy,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  upon  this  point. 

That  salvation  is  the  good  worTi  of  God  follows, 
first,  from  its  internal  character.  If  it  be  a  work 
in  us,  then  he  alone  who  made  the  soul  can  enter  in 
to  rectify  and  reconstruct  it. 

Secondly,  from  the  nature  of  the  worh  It  is  a  cre- 
ation. Who  can  create  but  he  who  spake  and  it 
was  done?  It  is  a  resurrection.  Who  but  God 
can  raise  the  dead  1  ''  You  hath  he  quickened,  who 
were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  "  (Eph.  2:1).  The 
soul  thus  raised  is  then  illuminated,  and  who  but 
he  who  commanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness 
can  shine  into  oui-  minds,  ^^to  give  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God,  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ"? 

Thirdly,  this  follows  from  the  Scripture  descriptions 
of  salvation  as  the  ivorl  of  God  in  all  its  issues.  Its 
origin  is  in  God.  "  Brethren  beloved  of  the  Lord," 
says  the  Apostle,  "we  are  bound  to  give  thanks 
alway  to  God  for  you,  because  God  hath  from  the 
beginning  chosen  you  to  salvation"  (2  Thess.  2: 
13,  14).    Its  source  is  in  God.     "He  hatli  saved  us, 


84  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

and  called  us  T\itli  an  holy  calling,  not  according 
to  our  works,  but  according  to  his  own  purpose 
and  grace,  which  was  given  us  in  Christ  Jesus  be- 
fore the  world  began"  (2  Tim.  1:9).  Its  appoint- 
ment  is  of  God.  "  For  God  hath  not  appointed  us 
to  wrath,  but  to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ"  (1  Thess.  5  :  9).  Its  execution  is  of  God.  '^It 
is  God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  w^ill  and  to  do 
of  his  good  pleasure"  (Phil.  2  :  13).  Its  grant  is  of 
God.  ''  This  is  the  record,  that  God  hath  given  to 
us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son  "  (1  John 
5 :  11).  Its  efficacy  is  of  God.  "  He  that  hath 
wrought  us  for  the  selfsame  thing  is  God  "  (2  Cor. 
5:5).  Its  continuance  is  of  God.  "He  is  able  to 
keep  you  from  falling,  and  to  present  you  fault- 
less before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceed- 
ing joy"  (Jude  24).  Accordingly  we  read  that  the 
whole  company  of  the  redeemed  from  the  earth, 
out  of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  people  and 
tongues,  as  the}^  stand  before  the  throne  and  the 
Lamb,  clothed  in  white  robes,  and  with  palms  in 
their  hands,  cry  with  a  loud  voice :  "  Salvation  to 
our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb  "(Rev.  7:9,  10). 

lY.  Again,  Jet  us  notice  as  a  fourth  point  that  sal- 
vation is  described  in  our  text  as  a  2>^ogressive  worJc. 
"  He  who  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  per- 


SALIVATION  AS  A  IVORK.  85 

form  itJ^  The  idea  is  that  of  a  continuous,  pro- 
gressive performance.  He  will  cany  it  on  to  its 
ultimate  completion  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

All  the  works  of  God  are  progressive.  The  cre- 
ation of  the  world  was  not  instantaneous  and  per- 
fect, but  gradual  and  progressive,  as  the  plastic 
hand  of  the  Creator  wrought  amid  chaos  bruiging 
beauty  and  order  out  of  confusion,  molding  the 
world,  spreading  out  the  heavens,  fashioning  the 
stars,  ordaining  the  sun  and  moon,  garnishing  the 
earth,  till  aU  stood  forth  in  the  perfection  of  beauty, 
and  he  pronounced  it  good.  Revelation  in  like 
manner  progi-essed  continuously  from  the  first  dim 
dawn  of  antediluvian  promise  through  the  faint, 
glimmering  morning  of  the  patriarchal  age  and 
the  increasing  light  of  the  prophetic  period  to 
the  full-orbed,  noontide  effulgence  of  the  cross  of 
Christ. 

Such  also  is  the  law  of  gradual  and  continuous 
progress  in  the  work  of  grace ;  hence  it  is  com- 
pared in  the  Scriptures  to  everything  that  is  char- 
acterized by  growth.  To  the  priiici]}U  of  vegetation, 
as  described  by  our  Lord :  "  First  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.'^  It  is  like 
the  mustard-seed,  in  its  first  appearance  the  small- 
est, and  in  its  ultimate  development  the  greatest,  of 
all  trees.     In  like  manner  it  is  compared  to  light, 


86  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

growing  brighter  and  brighter  to  the  perfect  day. 
To  life,  at  first  infantile,  but  the  babe  in  Christ 
gi'ows  to  the  stature  of  the  perfect  man  in  Christ 
.Jesus.  To  the  progress  of  industrial  labor:  "Ye 
also  as  lively  stones  ai-e  built  up  a  spiritual  house  " 
(1  Peter  2:5).  To  the  oidgroivth  of  mechanical  skill  : 
'^  He  that  hath  wrought  us  for  the  selfsame  thing 
is  God"  (2  Cor.  5:  5). 

Notice  for  a  moment  the  point  of  this  last  figure. 
As  the  mechanic  forges  his  bar  and  works  it  by  a 
progressive  process  for  a  specific  purpose,  so  "he 
that  hath  wrought  us  for  the  selfsame  thing  is 
God."  If  a  piece  of  fine,  polished,  flexible  steel 
could  tell  the  histor}^  of  the  processes  which  have 
made  it  what  it  is,  it  would  have  to  tell  of  much 
work  done  upon  it,  and  of  a  great  change  wrought 
in  it.  It  was  once  a  dark,  impure  mass,  scarcely 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  stones  with  which 
it  was  mixed  and  incorporated.  It  would  have 
to  tell  of  the  force  that  dug  it  out  of  dark- 
ness, of  the  blows  that  broke  it  into  pieces,  of  the 
crucible  in  which  it  was  closely  imprisoned,  of  the 
heaps  of  charcoal  that  overlaid  and  of  the  intense 
fires  melting  the  metal,  changing  the  charcoal  into 
a  subtle  gas,  and  forcing  the  new  element  to  mix 
mth  the  whole  substance  of  the  iron.  It  would 
have  to  teU,  too,  how  again  and  again  it  had  to 


SALTATION  AS  A   IVORK.  87 

feel  the  heavy  blows  of  the  hammer,  the  heat  of 
the  fui'ious  fii*e,  the  plunge  into  hissing,  steaming 
water,  and  how  it  was  not  till  after  much  pro- 
tracted labor  that  the  dull,  heavy,  brittle  iron  became 
steel,  rivaling  in  brightness  the  polished  silver,  and 
in  toughness  the  strongest  cable.  In  like  manner 
the  Christian  is  wrought  by  God  himself  for  his 
present  work  and  futui'e  destiny.  All  the  trials 
and  temptations,  all  the  sorrows  and  suffering,  aU 
the  various  changes  and  chances  of  the  Christian's 
life,  are  just  the  blows  of  the  hammer  or  the  flames 
of  the  furnace  that  in  God's  providence  and  grace 
are  preparing  him  for  his  futui'e  bliss.  So  that  if 
a  saint  already  bright  and  glittering  in  his  inherit- 
ance of  Kght  could  tell  us  of  the  processes  by  which 
he  was  made  what  he  is,  he  would  have  to  tell  how 
he  was  dug  out  of  the  hole  of  the  pit,  of  many 
a  melting  crucible,  of  many  a  plunge  into  the 
water,  of  many  a  blow  of  the  hammer,  of  the  fires 
that  have  been  piled  over  and  around  him  in 
the  fui-nace  of  afiSiction,  diiving  into  his  softened 
spirit  that  divine  piinciple  which  has  changed, 
not  indeed  the  substance,  but  the  character  and 
qualities  of  his  nature,  giving  strength  instead  of 
weakness,  and  infusing  the  grace  that  bends  to  the 
will  of  God.  He  would  have  to  tell  of  these  pro- 
cesses long  continued  and  again  reapplied,  of  fire 


88  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

kindled  upon  fire  and  blow  succeeding  blow,  and 
that  it  was  not  until  after  mucli  working  and  pro- 
gressive refining  that  he  was  made  meet  for  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light. 

V.  Our  text  furnishes  another  invaluable  point 
of  doctrinal  instruction.  This  blessed,  internal,  di- 
vine, progressive  work  is  here  described  as  a  work  that 
will  assitredhj  be  completed.  Of  this  the  Apostle 
gives  us  a  double  expression  of  his  confidence. 
^^  Being  confident  of  this  very  thing, ''^  it  is  a  point 
about  which  there  can  be  no  room  for  doubt  that 
"  he  who  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  ivill  per- 
form it  till  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ." 

1.  This  strong  confidence  of  the  Apostle  is  based 
upon  the  character  of  Ood.  The  simple  fact  that 
God  hath  begun  a  good  work  was  the  assurance 
that  he  would  complete  it.  If  salvation  were  the 
work  of  man,  if  either  the  beginning,  continuance, 
or  termination  of  the  work  depended  upon  our- 
selves, there  could  be  no  groimd  of  certainty  or 
confidence  in  the  matter.  But  the  simple  fact  that 
God  has  begun  a  good  work  in  us  leaves  no  room 
fco  doubt  but  he  will  carry  it  on  to  its  uttermost 
perfection.  God  abandons  nothing  that  he  under- 
takes. There  are  no  unfinished  worlds  or  systems, 
no  half -made  or  forsaken  works  of  his  hands.  Be- 
sides this,  there  can  be  no  reason  why  he  should 


SAtyATION  AS  A   WORK.  89 

begin  such  a  work  and  then  abandon  it.  It  cannot 
be  because  lie  lias  no  power  to  complete  it,  or  be- 
cause there  are  more  enemies  to  be  overcome  than 
he  had  supposed.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the 
works  of  creation  of  any  change  of  plan,  or  of  his 
having  forsaken  what  he  began,  from  disappoint- 
ment or  disgust.  He  tells  us  himself  what  judg- 
ment should  be  formed  of  a  builder  who,  having 
begun  at  great  expense  to  erect  a  house,  should  leave 
it  unfinished.  Shall  we,  then,  suppose  that  God, 
who  hath  purchased  om*  souls  with  the  blood  of 
his  dear  Son,  and  has  laid  in  our  heai'ts  the  foun- 
dation of  his  spii'itual  temple,  will  at  last  leave  tliai 
for  the  habitation  of  devils  which  he  has  been  so 
long  forming  for  himself?  The  very  supposition 
is  absm^d,  and  its  maintenance  blasphemous.  To 
suppose  that  God  would  leave  unfinished  a  work 
which  he  has  ah*eady  begun  is  to  impute  weakness 
and  imperfection  to  the  all-perfect  and  ever-blessed 
God. 

2.  Willie  tins  confidence  might  rest  rvitJi  perfect 
security  upon  tlie  dasis  of  tlie  cliiine  character,  it  has 
also  for  its  foundation  the  sure  ^Vord  of  di line  prom- 
ise.    These  promises  are  of  two  kinds : 

(1)  That  nothing  shall  destroy  this  work,  yot 
temptation,  for  "  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suffer 
you  to  be  tempted  above  that  ye  are  able ;  but  will 


90  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

with  the  temptation  also  make  a  way  to  escape 
that  ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it "  (1  Cor.  10 :  13).  Not 
sin,  for  ^^sin  shall  not  have  dominion  over  you" 
(Romans  6 :  14).  Not  Satan,  for  the  "  God  of  all 
peace  shall  bruise  Satan  imder  your  feet  shortly " 
(Romans  16 ;  20).  All  this  the  Saviour  compre- 
hends in  one  single  promise :  "I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life ;  and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither 
shall  any  man  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand  "  (John 
10:28). 

(2)  Added  to  these  are  promises  of  actual  grace 
and  strength,  and  assurances  that  he  will  carry  on 
and  perfect  the  work.  '^As  thy  day  so  shall  thy 
strength  be"  (Deut.  33  :  25).  "  The  righteous  also 
shall  hold  on  his  way,  and  he  that  hath  clean  hands 
shall  be  stronger  and  stronger"  (Job  17  :  9).  "My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  thee"  (2  Cor.  12:9).  "I 
will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee"  (Hebrews 
13  :  5).  "  Though  the  mountains  depart  and  the 
hills  be  removed,  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from 
thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be 
removed"  (Isaiah  54:10).  The  Spmt  of  Truth, 
pointing  to  the  grand  inheritance  beyond  the 
grave,  assures  us  that  it  is  "reserved  in  heaven 
for  you  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through 
faith  unto  salvation"  (1  Peter  1:4  5).  In  view 
of  all  these   assm-ances,  we  may  boldly  take  our 


SALVATION  AS  A   IVORK.  91 

stand  with  the  Apostle  upon  the  strength  and 
covenant  promise  of  God,  and  throw  out  our  chal- 
lenge to  the  world:  ^^Who  shall  lay  an}i:hing  to 
the  charge  of  God's  elect?"    (Romans  8 :  33,  39.) 

VI.  Finally^  our  text  informs  us  of  the  time  when 
this  work  will  he  completed.  "  Will  perform  it  until 
the  day  of  Jesus  Christ/^  that  is,  the  day  of  his 
second  coming,  the  day  of  his  glorious  appearing, 
when  he  shall  come  T^dthout  sin  unto  salvation,  to 
be  admired  in  all  his  saints,  but  to  the  terror  of 
all  his  enemies.  ''  Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds  j 
and  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  all  kindreds  of  the 
earth  shall  wail  because  of  him  "  (Rev.  1:7).  This 
day  is  called  his  day,  because  it  will  be  the  day  of 
his  glory  and  triumph,  when  he  shaU  see  the  travail 
of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied,  when  aU  enemies  shall 
be  put  under  his  feet,  and  every  knee  shall  bow, 
and  every  tongue  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  Upon  this  day, 
the  coronation-day  of  the  King  of  Glory,  when  the 
trumpet  shall  sound,  and  all  that  are  in  their  graves 
shall  hear  the  call  of  the  Son  of  Man  and  come 
forth,  a  voice,  we  are  told,  shall  issue  from  the 
throne,  saying,  ''It  is  done.  I  am  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end"  (Rev.  21 :  6). 
It  is  done.  Redemption  is  done,  salvation  is  fin- 
ished; he  who  began  the  good  work  in  you,  the 


92  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

Alpha  of  its  incipiency,  is  now  the  Omega  of  its 
completion.  He  hath  performed  it  until  the  day  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  simple  truth  thus  taught  us  is,  salvation  wiU 
be  finished  tlien — and  this  is  the  confidence  of  the 
Christian ;  and  not  tiU  then — and  this  is  the  death 
of  presumptuous  perfectionism.  But  is  not  salva- 
tion complete  at  death?  Nay,  verily.  The  salva- 
tion of  the  soul  is,  for  on  that  very  day  it  shall 
be  ^ith  Chiist  in  Paradise ;  but  not  of  the  body, 
for  it  must  repose  in  the  grave  till  the  Resurrection. 
At  death,  therefore,  salvation  is  but  half  achieved. 
The  soul  is  disenthi*alled,  but  the  body,  oiu*  dear 
mortal  half,  lies  in  the  dust  endui'ing  the  dishonors 
of  the  gi-ave  and  the  bondage  of  corruption.  Until 
the  day  of  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  we  wait  for  the 
adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  the  body,  for 
it  also  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  cor- 
ruption into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 
Then,  when  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible, 
and  our  happy  spirits  reunited  to  bodies  now  glori- 
fied, salvation  will  be  finished.  The  soul  and  the 
body  rewedded  in  a  holy,  happy,  and  indissoluble 
union  is  salvation  in  its  uttermost  perfection. 

In  conclusion,  the  whole  subject  resolves  itself 
into  one  single  inquir^^ :  Is  this  good  work  begun 
in  you  ?    Without  it  you  are  of  no  value.     Salva- 


SALy/ITION  AS  A   WORK.  93 

tion  is  the  tie  that  connects  man  with  his  Creator 
and  binds  him  to  his  throne.  If  the  tie  does  not 
exist;  existence  has  no  object.  You  float  away  a 
worthless  atom  in  the  universe,  its  proper  attrac- 
tion all  gone,  its  destiny  thwarted,  and  its  whole 
future  nothing  but  darkness,  desolation,  and  death. 
But  with  this  work  begun  in  you,  you  are  one  of 
the  precious  sons  of  God,  for  whom  this  earth  was 
reared  and  canopied  with  yon  bright  and  burning 
blazonr}^  Without  it  you  have  missed  the  end  of 
your  creation,  you  are  the  cast-off  lumber  of  crea- 
tion, forever  to  be  bui^ned;  but  with  it  you  are 
God's  workmanship,  and  inheritors  of  an  heirdom 
of  glory.  The  efficiency  is  God's,  the  instrumen- 
tality is  yours.  It  is  youi's  to  work,  to  ''  work  out 
your  own  salvation,  with  fear  and  trembling '' ;  it 
is  God's  to  "  work  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of 
his  good  pleasure." 


INCARNATE  TRUTH. 

Bt  Prof.  Benjamin  B.  Warfield,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"And  the  Word  icas  made  flesh,  and  dicelt  among  us,  .  .  . 
full  of  .  .  .  truth.''—Jom^l:U. 

npHE  obvious  resemblance  between  the  prologue 
-*-  to  John's  Gospel  and  the  proem  of  Genesis  is 
not  a  matter  of  mere  phraseology  and  external 
form.  As  the  one,  in  the  brief  compass  of  a  few 
verses,  paints  the  whole  history  of  the  creation  of  a 
universe  with  a  'vdvidness  which  makes  the  quick- 
ened imagination  a  witness  of  the  process,  so  the 
other  in  still  briefer  compass  traces  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  re-creation  of  a  dead  world  into  newness 
of  life.  In  both  we  are  first  pointed  back  into  the 
depths  of  eternity,  when  only  God  was.  In  both 
we  are  bidden  to  look  upon  the  chaotic  darkness  of 
lawless  matter  or  of  lawless  souls,  over  which  the 
brooding  Spirit  was  yet  to  move.  In  both,  as  the 
tremendous  pageants  are  unroUed  before  our  eyes, 
we  are  made  to  see  the  Living  God ;  and  to  see  him 
as  the  Light  and  the  Life  of  the  world,  the  De- 
94 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  95 

stroyer  of  all  darkness,  the  Author  of  all  good. 
Here  too,  however,  the  Old  Testament  revelation  is 
the  preparation  for  the  better  to  come.  In  it  we 
see  God  as  the  God  of  power  and  of  wisdom,  the 
Author  and  Orderer  of  all  j  in  this  we  see  him  as 
the  God  of  goodness  and  mercy,  the  Restorer  and 
Redeemer  of  the  lost.  Law  was  given  thi^ough 
Moses  5  gi'ace  and  truth  came  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Through  what  a  sublime  sweep  does  the  Apostle 
lead  oui*  panting  thought  as  he  strives  to  tell  us 
who  and  what  the  Word  is,  and  what  he  has  done 
for  men.  He  lifts  the  veil  of  time,  that  we  may 
peer  into  the  changeless  abyss  of  eternity  and  see 
him  as  he  is,  in  the  mystery  of  his  being,  along 
with  God  and  yet  one  with  God — ^in  some  deep 
sense  distinct  from  God,  in  some  higher  sense 
identical  with  God.  Then  he  shows  us  the  divine 
work  which  he  has  wrought  in  time.  He  is  the  All- 
Creator — '^  all  things  were  made  by  him,  and  with- 
out hiTTi  was  not  anything  made  that  hath  been 
made."  He  is  the  All-Illuminator — he  ''was  the 
true  Light  that  hghteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world."  And  now  in  these  last  days  he 
has  become  the  All-Redeemer — prepared  for  by  his 
prophet,  he  came  to  his  own,  and  his  own  received 
him  not  5  but  "  as  many  as  received  him,"  without 
regard  to  race  or  previous  preparation,  ''he  gave 


96  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

to  them  the  right  to  become  children  of  God,  to 
them  that  believe  on  his  name,  who  were  born  not 
of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will 
of  man,  but  of  God."  Then  the  climax  of  this  great 
discourse  breaks  on  us  as  we  are  told  how  the  Word, 
when  he  came  to  his  own,  manifested  himself  to 
flesh.  It  was  by  himself  becoming  flesh,  and  tab- 
ernacling among  us,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  He 
came  as  Creator,  as  Revealer,  as  Redeemer :  as  Cre- 
ator, preparing  a  body  for  his  habitation ;  as  Reveal- 
er, "  trailing  clouds  of  glory  as  he  came  '^  j  as  Re- 
deemer, heaping  grace  on  grace. 

It  is  clear  that  it  is  primarily  in  its  aspect  as  a 
revelation  of  God  that  John  is  here  contemplating 
the  incarnation.  Accordingly,  he  bears  his  per- 
sonal witness  to  it  as  such :  "  The  "Word  was  made 
flesh,  and  tabernacled  among  us,  and  ice  beheld  his 
glory,  a  glory  as  of  an  only-begotten  of  the  Father." 
Accordingly,  too,  he  summons  the  prophetic  witness 
of  the  forerunner.  And  accordingly,  still  further, 
he  closes  the  whole  with  a  declaration  of  the  nature 
of  the  revelation  made,  and  its  guarantee  in  the  re- 
lation of  the  incarnated  Word  to  the  Father :  "  No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time ;  God  only-begotten 
which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  de- 
clared him." 

In  the  special  verse  from  which  we  have  taken 


INCARNATE   TRUTH.  97 

our  text  we  perceive,  then,  that  John  isJoearing  his 
personal  witness:  ^^And  the  Word  became  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us,  and  ive  beheld  his  glory. ^^  He 
is  teUing  us  what  of  his  own  immediate  knowledge 
he  knows — testifying  what  he  had  heard,  what  he 
had  seen  with  his  eyes,  what  he  had  beheld  and  his 
hands  had  handled.  An  eye-witness  to  Christ's 
majesty,  he  had  seen  his  glory  and  beai's  his  willing 
witness  to  it.  Nor  must  we  fancy  that  he  gives  us 
merely  a  subjective  opinion  of  his  own,  as  if  he 
were  telling  us  only  that  the  man  Jesus  was  so  full 
of  grace  and  truth  in  his  daily  walk  that  he,  look- 
ing upon  him  admii-ingly,  had  been  led  to  conject- 
ure that  he  was  more  than  man.  He  testifies  not 
to  subjective  opinion  but  to  objective  fact.  We 
observe  that  the  testimony  is  made  up  of  three  as- 
sertions. First,  we  have  the  fact,  the  objective 
fact,  of  the  incarnation  asserted :  "And  the  Word 
was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  Secondly, 
we  have  the  self-evidencing  glory  of  the  incarna- 
tion asserted :  "And  we  beheld  his  glory,  a  glory  as 
of  an  only-begotten  of  the  Father."  And  thii-dly, 
we  have  the  characteristic  elements  which  entered 
into  and  constituted  the  glory  which  he  brought 
from  heaven  with  him  and  exhibited  to  men,  as- 
serted: "Full  of  grace  and  truth."  Jesus  Christ 
was  incarnated  love  and  tmth.    And  precisely  what 


98  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

John  witnesses  is,  that  the  Word  did  become  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  men,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  and 
that  the  blaze  of  this  his  glory  was  manifest  to  every 
seeing  eye  that  looked  upon  him. 

Now  it  seems  evident,  fui^ther,  that  John  had 
an  especial  form  of  the  manifestation  of  love 
and  truth  before  his  mind  when  he  wrote  these 
words.  He  is  thinking  of  the  covenant  God,  who 
proclaimed  himself  to  Moses  on  the  mount  when 
he  descended  on  the  cloud  as  ^'  Jehovah,  Jehovah, 
a  God  fiill  of  compassion,  and  gracious,  slow  to 
anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy  and  truth."  He  is 
thinking  of  David's  prayer,  "O  prepare  loving- 
kindness  and  truth" J  and  his  heart  biu-ns  within 
him  as  he  sees  them  now  prepared.  It  is  the  thought 
of  Christ's  redeeming  work  which  is  filling  his 
mind,  and  which  leads  him  to  sum  up  the  revela- 
tion of  the  incarnation  in  the  revelation  of  love 
and  truth.  Therefore  he  says,  not  "love,"  but 
"  grace  " — undeserved  love  to  sinners.  And  in 
"truth"  he  is  thinking  chiefly  of  Christ's  "faith- 
fulness." The  divine  glory  that  rested  as  a  nim- 
bus on  the  Lord's  head  was  compounded  before 
all  else  of  his  ineffable  love  for  the  unlovely,  of  his 
changeless  faitlifulness  to  the  unfaithful.  For  in 
Christ,  God  conmiended  his  love  to  us  in  that, 
while  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us. 


INCARNATE   TRUTH.  99 

Nevertheless,  it  would  be  a  serious  error  to  con- 
fine the  words  as  here  used  to  this  single  implica- 
tion. This  is  rather  the  culmination  and  climax 
of  their  meaning  than  the  whole  extent  and  imple- 
tion  of  it.  Christ  is  not  only  love  as  manifested 
in  grace,  but  as  the  God  of  love  manifest  in  the 
flesh  he  is  love  itself  in  all  its  height  and  breadth. 
Not  only  the  loftiest  reaches  of  love,  love  for  the 
undeserving,  find  then*  model  in  him,  but  all  the 
love  that  is  in  the  world  finds  its  som-ce  and  must 
seek  its  support  in  him.  His  was  the  love  that 
wept  at  the  grave  of  a  friend  and  over  the  earthly 
sorrows  of  Jerusalem,  that  yearned  T\dth  the  be- 
reaved mother  at  Nain,  and  took  the  little  children 
into  his  ai'ms  to  bless  them;  as  well  as  the  love 
that  availed  to  offer  himself  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  In 
like  manner,  that  John  has  especially  in  mind  here 
the  highest  manifestations  of  truth — our  Lord's 
trustiness  in  the  great  work  of  salvation — in  no 
way  empties  the  word  of  its  lower  connotations. 
He  is  still  the  true  Light  that  lightetli  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world ;  and  all  the  truth  that 
is  in  the  world  comes  from  him  and  must  seek  its 
strength  in  him.  ^'  We  beheld  his  glory,"  says  the 
Apostle,  ^^fulV^ — complete,  perfect — "of  grace  and 
truth."  And  perfection  of  love  and  truth  avails 
for  all  theii'  manifestations.     This  man,  the  man 


100  PROFESSOR   WARFIELD. 

Christ  Jesus,  could  not  act  in  any  relation  other- 
wise than  lovingly,  could  not  speak  on  any  subject 
otherwise  than  truly.  He  is  the  pure  fountain  of 
love  and  truth. 

I.  We  confine  ourselves  on  the  present  occasion 
to  the  latter  of  the  two  chai-acteristics  here  brought 
together.  And,  doing  so,  the  first  message  which 
the  declaration  brings  us  is  one  so  obvious  that, 
in  cii'cumstances  other  than  those  in  which  we  are 
now  standing,  it  would  seem  an  insult  to  oui'  intel- 
ligence to  direct  attention  to  it.  It  is  this,  that 
since  Jesus  Chi-ist  oui*  Lord,  the  manifested  Jeho- 
vah, was  as  such  the  incarnation  of  ti-uth,  no  state- 
ment which  ever  fell  fi-om  his  hps  can  have  con- 
tained any  admixtui*e  of  error.  This  is  John's  tes- 
timony. For  let  us  remind  ourselves  again  that 
he  is  here  bearing  his  witness,  not  to  the  essential 
truth  of  the  di\dne  nature  incarnated  in  our  Lord 
prior  to  its  incarnation,  but  to  the  fullness  of  tnith 
which  dwelt  in  the  God-man:  "And  the  Word 
became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld 
his  glorj^,  .  .  .  full  of  .  .  .  truth."  More — it  is  the 
testimony  of  our  Lord  himseK.  "  I,"  he  declared, 
with  his  majestic  and  pregnant  bre\dty,  "  I  am  the 
Truth."  Nor  dare  we  fancy  that  his  plenitude  of 
truth  is  exhausted  in  his  witness  to  the  great  and 
eternal  verities  of  religion,  while  the  pettier  affairs 


INCARNATE   TRUTH.  101 

of  earth  and  man  are  beyond  its  reach.  His  own 
norm  of  judgment  is  that  only  he  that  is  faithful 
in  the  least  may  be  trusted  with  the  gi*eat.  And  it 
was  testified  of  him  not  only  that  he  knew  whence 
he  came  and  w^hither  he  went,  but  equally  that  he 
knew  all  men  and  needed  not  that  any  should  bear 
witness  of  man,  for  he  himseK  knew  what  was  in 
man.  He  himself  suspends  his  trustworthiness  as 
to  heavenly  things  upon  his  trustworthiness  as  to 
earthly  things :  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  We 
speak  that  we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have 
seen  5  and  ye  receive  not  our  mtness.  If  I  told  you 
earthly  things  and  ye  beheve  not,  how  shall  ye  be- 
lieve if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things  ? " 

Are  we  beating  the  air  when  we  remind  ourselves 
of  such  things  ?  Would  that  we  were !  But  alas  ! 
we  are  fallen  on  evil  days,  when  we  need  to  defend 
the  ti'uth  of  incarnate  truth  itself  against  the  as- 
persions of  even  its  professed  fi-iends.  Oh,  the  un- 
imaginable lengths  to  which  the  intellectual  pride 
of  men  will  carry  them  !  Has  one  spun  out  some 
flimsy  fancy  as  to  the  origin  and  composition  of 
certain  Old  Testament  books,  which  is  found  to 
clash  with  Jesus'  testimony  to  their  authorship  and 
trustworthiness?  We  are  coolly  told  that  "as  a 
teacher  of  spii'itual  truth  sent  from  God  and  full  of 
God  he  is  universal,"  but  "  as  a  logician  and  critic 


102  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

he  belongs  to  his  times/'  and  therefore  had  ^'a 
definite,  restricted  outfit  and  outlook,  which  could 
be  only  those  of  his  o^ti  day  and  generation." 
>^  Why  should  he  be  supposed  to  know  the  science 
of  the  criticism  of  the  Old  Testament/'  we  are  asked, 
"  which  began  to  exist  centuries  after  his  death  ? " 
Does  another  cherish  opinions  as  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  certain  Old  Testament  passages  which  will 
not  square  with  the  use  that  Chi'ist  makes  of  them  ? 
He  teUs  us  at  once  that  ^'interpretation  is  essen- 
tially a  scientific  function,  and  one  conditioned  by 
the  existence  of  scientific  means,  which,  in  relation 
to  the  Old  Testament,  were  only  imperfectly  at  the 
command  of  Jesus."  Has  another  adopted  precon- 
ceptions which  render  our  Lord's  dealings  with  the 
demoniacs  distasteful  to  him  ?  He  too  reminds  us 
that  the  habit  of  ascribing  disease  to  demoniacal 
influences  was  universal  in  Jesus'  day,  and  that  we 
can  scarcely  expect  him  to  be  free  from  the  cur- 
rent errors  of  his  time.  Let  us  cut  even  deeper. 
When  one  desu-es  to  break  out  a  "  larger  hope  "  for 
those  who  die  impenitent  than  Christ's  teachings 
win  allow,  he  suggests  that  in  his  efforts  to  lead  his 
hearers  to  repentance  Jesus  spoke  habitually  as  a 
popular  preacher,  and  far  more  strongly  than  he 
could  have  permitted  himself  to  do  had  he  been  an 
exact  theologian.    When  another  burns  with  a  zeal 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  103 

for  moral  reform  which  is  certainly  not  according 
to  knowledge,  he  suggests  that  we  have  reached  a 
stage  of  ethical  development  when  "  new  and  larger 
perceptions  of  truth  "  have  brought "  new  and  larger 
perceptions  of  duty ''  than  were  attainable  in  Christ's 
day,  and  are  accordingly  bound  to  govern  our  lives 
by  stricter  rules  than  would  apply  to  him  in  that 
darker  age.  Or,  to  sum  up  the  whole,  we  have 
been  recently  told  plainly  that  "  Christ  in  his  man- 
hood was  not  the  equal  of  Newton  in  mathematical 
knowledge,"  and  not  "  the  equal  of  Wellhausen  in 
literary  criticism,"  because — so  we  are  actually  told 
— the  pursuit  of  such  sciences  requires  "  much  ex- 
ercise of  mind." 

Is,  then,  the  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world  gone  out  in  darkness  ?  What 
is  left  us  of  the  Truth  Indeed,  who  proclaims  him- 
seK  no  more  the  Way  and  the  Life  than  the  Truth, 
if  his  testimony  cannot  be  trusted  as  to  the  nature, 
origin,  authority,  and  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  of 
which  his  own  Spirit  was  the  inspirer  j  as  to  the 
constitution  of  that  spiritual  world  of  which  he  is 
the  Creator  and  the  King ;  as  to  the  nature  of  that 
future  state  which  it  is  his  to  determine  as  Judge ; 
or  as  to  the  moral  life  of  which  he  is  the  sole  au- 
thor ?  Yet  these  are  devout  men  who  are  propagating 
such  teachings ;  and  each  has  of  course  his  own  way 


104  PROFESSOR   JVARFIELD. 

of  saving  himself  from  conscious  blasphemy  in 
erecting  his  own  tiiought  above  the  thought  of  the 
God-man.  The  most  popular  way  at  present  is  to 
suggest  that  when  God  became  man  he  so  surren- 
dered the  attributes  of  divinity  as  that,  though  God, 
he  had  shrunk  to  the  capacity  of  man,  and,  accept- 
ing the  weaknesses,  become  subject  also  to  the  lim- 
itations of  a  purely  human  life  in  the  world.  Thus 
it  is  sought  to  save  the  veracity  of  the  Lord  at  the 
expense  of  his  knowledge,  his  truthfulness  at  the 
expense  of  his  truth.  But  who  can  fail  to  see  that, 
were  this  true,  the  sorrowing  world  would  be  left, 
like  Mary  standing  weeping  in  the  garden  and  oYy- 
ing,  "  They  have  taken  away  my  Lord "  ?  Where 
then  would  be  Christ  our  Prophet?  Who  could 
assure  us  of  his  trustiness  in  his  witness  to  his  one- 
ness with  God,  to  his  mission  from  God,  to  the 
completeness  of  his  work  for  our  salvation  ?  Faith 
has  received  a  serious  wound,  as  it  has  been  well 
phrased,  if  we  are  to  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  could 
have  been  deceived;  if  we  are  to  beheve  that  he 
could — wittingly  or  unwittingly — deceive,  faith  has 
received  its  death-blow. 

Let  us  bless  the  Lord,  then,  that  he  has  left  us 
little  excuse  for  doubting  in  so  important  a  matter. 
To  the  law  and  the  testimony.  Is  the  man  Christ 
Jesus  dramatized  before  us  in  the  length  and  breadth 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  105 

of  that  marvelous  history  which  fills  these  four  Gos- 
pels, as  a  child  of  his  times,  limited  by  the  intel- 
lectual outlook  of  his  times,  or  rather  as  a  teacher 
to  his  times,  sent  from  God  as  no  more  the  power 
of  God  than  the  msdom  of  God  ?  Is  he  represented 
to  us  as  leai-ning  what  he  taught  us  fi'om  men,  or, 
as  he  himself  bore  witness,  from  God  ? — "  My  teach- 
ing is  not  mine,  but  his  that  sent  me ; ''  '^  I  am  come 
down  out  of  heaven,"  and  '^  he  that  hath  sent  me 
is  true  " ;  and  ^^  the  things  that  I  have  heard  from 
him,  these  speak  I  unto  the  world."  Did  he  even 
in  his  boyhood  amaze  the  Doctors  in  the  temple  by 
his  understanding  (Luke  2 :  47)  ?  Did  he  know 
even  "  letters,"  not  having  learned  them  from  man 
(John  7  :  15)  ?  Did  he  see  Nathanael  when,  under 
the  fig-tree,  he  bowed  in  secret  prayer  (John  1 :  47)  ? 
Did  he  know  without  human  informant  all  things 
that  ever  the  Samaritan  woman  did  (John  4 :  29)  ? 
Did  he  so  search  the  heart  of  man  that  he  saw  the 
thoughts  of  his  enemies  (Matt.  9:4);  knew  that  one 
of  the  twelve  whom  he  had  chosen  was  a  "  devil " 
(John  6 :  70) ;  led  Peter  to  cry  in  his  adoring  dis- 
tress, ^'  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things,  thou  know- 
est  that  I  love  thee  "  (John  20 :  17) ;  and  called  out 
the  testimony  of  John  that  "  he  knew  aU  men,  and 
needed  not  that  any  should  bear  witness  concern- 
ing man,  for  he  himself  knew  what  was  in  man " 


106  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

(John  2 :  25) ;  as  well  as  the  testimony  of  all  the 
disciples  that  they  knew  that  he  came  from  God, 
because  "he  knew  all  things"  (John  16 :  30)  ? 
*  But  why  need  we  go  into  the  details  that  are 
spread  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  these  Gospels  ? 
In  our  text  itself  John  bears  witness  that  the  full- 
ness of  truth  which  dwelt  in  the  incarnate  Word  so 
glorified  all  his  life  as  to  mai-k  him  out  as  the  Son 
of  God :  "  The  Word  became  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  a  glory  as  of  an  only- 
begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  truth."  We  surely 
need  not  fear  to  take  oui'  stand  not  only  by  the 
truthfulness  but  by  the  truth  of  our  Lord.  We 
surely  need  not  shrink  fi^om,  with  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity, embracing,  proclaiming,  and  hving  by  his 
views  of  God  and  the  universe,  of  man  and  the 
world.  It  was  he  that  made  the  world ;  and  with- 
out him  was  not  anything  made  that  hath  been 
made.  Who  shaU  teach  him  how  its  beams  were 
laid  or  how  its  structure  has  gi'own  ?  It  was  he 
that  revealed  the  Word.  Who  shaU  teach  him  how 
were  written  or  what  is  intended  by  the  words 
which  he  himself  gave  through  his  servants  the 
prophets  ?  It  is  he  who  is  at  once  the  Source  and 
Standard  of  the  moral  law,  and  the  Fount  and  Ori- 
gin of  all  compassion  for  sinful  man.  Who  shall 
teach  him  what  it  is  right  to  do,  or  how  it  is  loving 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  107 

to  deal  with  the  children  of  men  f  We  need  not 
fear  lest  we  be  asked  to  credit  Jesus  against  the 
truth ;  we  may  confide  wholly  in  him^  because  he 
is  the  Truth. 

II.  Nor  let  us  do  this  timidly.  Trust  is  never 
timid.  Just  because  Jesus  is  the  Truth,  while  we 
without  reserve  accept,  proclaim,  and  live  by  every 
word  which  he  has  spoken,  not  fearing  that  after 
all  it  may  prove  to  be  false,  we  may  with  equal 
confidence  accept,  proclaim,  and  live  by  every  other 
truth  that  may  be  made  known  to  us,  not  feariag 
that  after  a  while  it  may  prove  to  contradict  the 
Truth  himself.  Thus  we  may  be  led  to  the  formu- 
lation of  a  second  message  which  the  text  brings 
us :  That  since  Jesus  Christ  oui-  Lord,  the  Founder 
of  our  religion,  was  the  very  incarnation  of  truth, 
no  truth  can  be  antagonistic  to  the  rehgion  which 
he  founded.  John  teUs  us  that  he  was  the  true 
Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world ;  and  we  may  read  this  as  meaning  that  as 
the  Word  of  God,  the  great  Revealer,  it  is  he  that 
leads  man  by  whatever  path  to  the  attainment  of 
whatever  truth.  There  is,  then,  no  truth  in  the 
world  which  does  not  come  from  him.  It  matters 
not  through  what  channel  it  finds  its  struggling 
way  into  our  consciousness  or  to  our  recognition, 
— whether  our  darkened  eyes  are  enabled  to  catch 


108  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

theii'  glimpse  of  it  by  the  light  of  natiu'e,  as  we  say, 
by  the  light  of  reason,  by  the  light  of  history,  or 
by  the  hght  of  criticism.  These  may  be  but  broken 
lights )  but  they  are  broken  lights  of  that  one  Light 
which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world.  Every  fragment  of  truth  which  they  re- 
veal to  us  comes  fi'om  him  who  is  the  Truth,  and 
is  rendered  gi^eat  and  holy  as  a  revelation  from  and 
of  him. 

We  must  not,  then,  as  Christians,  assume  an 
attitude  of  antagonism  toward  the  truths  of  rea- 
son, or  the  truths  of  philosophy,  or  the  truths  of 
science,  or  the  truths  of  history,  or  the  truths  of 
criticism.  As  children  of  the  light,  we  must  be 
careful  to  keep  oui'selves  open  to  eveiy  ray  of  Hght. 
If  it  is  light,  its  soui'ce  must  be  sought  in  him  who 
is  the  true  Light  5  if  it  is  truth,  it  belongs  of  right 
to  him  who  is  the  plenitude  of  truth.  All  natural 
truths  must  be — in  vaiying  degrees  indeed,  but  all 
ti'uly — in  some  sense  commentaries  on  the  super- 
naturally  revealed  truth ;  and  by  them  we  may  be 
led  to  fuller  and  more  accurate  comprehension  of 
it.  Nature  is  the  handiwork  of  God  in  space ;  his- 
tory' marks  his  pathway  through  time.  And  both 
nature  and  history  are  as  infallible  teachers  as 
revelation  itself,  could  we  but  skill  to  read  their 
message  aright.     It  is  distressingly  easy  to  misin- 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  109 

terpret  them ;  but  their  employment  in  the  elucida- 
tion of  Scriptui'e  is,  in  principle,  closely  analogous 
to  the  interpretation  of  one  Scripture  by  another, 
though  written  by  another  human  hand  and  at  an 
interval  of  an  age  of  time.  God  speaks  through 
his  instruments.  Prediction  interprets  prediction  j 
doctrine,  doctrine  5  and  fact,  fact.  Wherever  a  gleam 
of  light  is  caught,  it  illuminates^  The  true  Light, 
fi'om  whatsoever  reflected,  ligliteth. 

Let  us,  then,  cultivate  an  attitude  of  courage  as 
over  against  the  investigations  of  the  day.  None 
should  be  more  zealous  in  them  than  we.  None 
should  be  more  quick  to  discern  truth  in  every 
field,  more  hospitable  to  receive  it,  more  loyal  to 
follow  it  whithersoever  it  leads.  It  is  not  for 
Christians  to  be  lukewarm  in  regard  to  the  investi- 
gations and  discoveries  of  the  time.  Rather,  the 
followers  of  the  Truth  Indeed  can  have  no  safety, 
in  science  or  in  philosophy,  save  in  the  arms  of 
truth.  It  is  for  us,  therefore,  as  Christians,  to  push 
investigation  to  the  utmost ;  to  be  leaders  in  every 
science ;  to  stand  in  the  van  of  criticism ;  to  be  the 
first  to  catch  in  every  field  the  voice  of  the  Revealer 
of  truth,  who  is  also  our  Redeemer.  The  curse  of 
the  Church  has  been  her  apathy  to  truth,  in  which 
she  has  too  often  left  to  her  enemies  that  study  of 
nature  and  of  history  and  philosophy,  and  even 


110  PROFESSOR   H^ARFIELD. 

that  iiivestigation  of  her  own  peculiar  treasures, 
the  Scriptures  of  God,  which  should  have  been  her 
chief  concern.  Thus  she  has  often  been  forced  to 
learn  from  the  inadvertent  or  unwilling  testimony 
of  her  foes  the  facts  she  has  needed  to  protect  her- 
self from  then-  assaults.  And  thus  she  has  been  led 
to  borrow  from  them  false  theories  in  philosophy, 
science,  and  criticism,  to  make  unnecessary  conces- 
sions to  them,  and  to  expose  herself,  as  they  changed 
their  positions  from  time  to  time,  to  unnecessary 
disgrace.  What  has  the  Church  not  suffered  from 
her  unwillingness  to  engage  in  truly  scientific 
work!  She  has  nothing  to  fear  from  truth j  but 
she  has  everything  to  fear,  and  she  has  already 
suffered  nearly  eveiything,  from  ignorance.  All 
truth  belongs  to  us  as  followers  of  Christ,  the 
Truth ;  let  us  at  length  enter  into  our  inheritance. 

III.  In  so  speaking,  we  have  already  touched 
somewhat  upon  a  third  message  which  our  text 
brings  us :  That  since  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  and 
Master  is  incarnate  Truth,  we  as  his  children  must 
love  the  truth. 

Like  him,  we  must  be  so  single  of  eye,  so  stead- 
fast in  purpose,  so  honest  in  word,  that  no  guile 
can  be  found  in  our  mouth.  The  philosophers 
have  sought  variously  for  the  sanction  of  truth. 
Kant  found  it  in  the  respect  a  man  owes  to  the 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  Ill 

dignity  of  his  own  moral  nature:  the  liar  must 
despise  himself  because  l}ing  is  pai-tial  suicide 
— it  is  the  renunciation  of  what  we  are  and  the 
substitution  of  a  feigned  man  in  our  place.  Fichte 
found  it  in  our  sense  of  justice  toward  om-  fellow- 
men  :  to  he  is  to  lead  others  astray  and  subject 
theu'  freedom  to  our  selfish  ends — it  is  ultimately 
to  destroy  society  by  destroying  trust  among  men. 
From  each  of  these  points  of  view  a  powerful 
motive  to  truth  may  be  developed.  It  is  unmanly 
to  he ;  it  is  unneighborly  to  he.  It  wiU  destroy 
both  our  seK-respect  and  all  social  Hfe.  But  for  us 
as  Christians  no  sanction  can  approach  in  power 
that  derived  from  the  simple  fact  that  as  Christians 
we  are  "of  the  Tmth"  j  that  we  are  not  of  him  who 
when  he  speaketh  a  he  speaketh  of  his  own^  who  is 
a  har  and  the  father  thereof,  but  of  him  who  is  the 
fullness  of  truth — who  is  light  and  in  whom  is  no 
darkness  at  all.  As  the  children  of  truth,  truth  is 
our  essential  nature;  and  to  he  is  to  sin  against 
that  incarnate  Truth  who  is  also  our  Lord  and  Re- 
deemer—in whom,  we  are  told,  no  hai*  can  have 
part  or  share. 

Bare  avoidance  of  falsehood  is  far,  however,  from 
fulfilling  our  whole  duty  as  lovers  of  truth.  There 
is  a  positive  duty,  of  course,  as  well  as  this  negative 
one  beckoning  us.     We  have  already  noted  the  im- 


112  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

pulse  which  should  thence  arise  to  investigation 
and  research.  If  all  tiTith  is  a  revelation  of  oni' 
Lord;  what  zeal  we  should  have  to  possess  it,  that 
we  may  the  better  know  him !  As  childi'en  of  the 
truth  we  must  love  the  truth,  every"  truth  in  its  own 
order,  and  therefore  especially  and  above  all  others 
those  truths  w^hich  have  been  revealed  by  God  for 
the  salvation  of  the  world.  How  tenacious  we 
should  be  in  holding  them,  how  persistent  in  prop- 
agating them,  how  insistent  in  bearing  our  wit- 
ness to  them !  "  To  this  end  was  I  born,"  said  our 
Lord  himself,  ''  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.'' 
And  we  too,  as  his  servants,  must  be,  each  in  his 
place,  witnesses  of  the  truth.  This  is  the  high 
function  that  has  been  given  us  as  followers  of 
Jesus :  as  the  Father  sent  him  into  the  world,  so  he 
has  sent  us  into  the  world,  to  bear  witness  of  the 
truth. 

We  all  know  in  the  midst  of  what  dangers, 
in  the  midst  of  what  deaths,  those  who  have  gone 
before  us  have  fulfilled  this  trust.  "  Martyrs,"  we 
call  them  5  and  we  call  them  such  truly.  For 
'•''  martyrs  "  means  "  witnesses  " ;  and  they  bore  their 
witness  despite  cross  and  sword,  fire  and  raging 
beasts.  So  constant  was  their  witness,  so  undis- 
mayed, that  this  proverb  has  enshrined  their  eulogy 


INCARNATE  TRUTH.  113 

for  all  time,  that  "  the  blood  of  the  martp's  was  the 
seed  of  the  Chui'ch."  They  were  our  fathers :  have 
we  inherited  theii'  spirit  ?  If  we  be  Christians  at 
all,  must  not  we  too  be  "martp's/'  "witnesses"? 
mnst  not  we  too  steadfastly  bear  oiu'  witness  to 
the  truth  assailed  in  oiu'  time  ?  There  may  be  no 
more  fii-es  lighted  for  our  quivering  flesh :  are  there 
no  more  temptations  to  a  guilty  silence  or  a  weak 
evasion  ?  Surely  there  is  witness  still  to  be  borne, 
and  we  are  they  to  bear  it.  The  popular  poet  of 
the  day  sings  against  "the  hard  God  served  in 
Jerusalem,"  and  aU  the  world  goes  after  him.  But 
we — do  we  not  know  him  to  be  the  God  of  our  sal- 
vation? the  God  who  hath  lovingly  predestinated 
us  unto  the  adoption  of  sons,  thi-ough  Jesus  Chi'ist, 
unto  himself,  according  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his 
will,  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  his  gi-ace  ?  May 
God  grant  that  in  times  like  these,  when  men  wiU 
not  endure  the  sound  doctrine,  we  may  be  enabled 
by  his  grace  to  bear  unwavering  witness  to  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  God  Almighty,  who  "  hath  made  every- 
thing for  its  own  purpose,  yea,  even  the  wicked  for 
the  day  of  evil." 

Need  we  pause  further  to  enforce  that  highest 
form  of  the  love  of  the  truth,  the  love  of  the  Gospel 
of  God's  gi^ace,  which  braves  aU  things  for  the  pure 
joy  of  making  known  the  riches  of  his  love  to  fallen 


114  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

men  ?  The  missionary  spirit  is  the  noblest  fruit  of 
the  love  of  truth  5  the  missionary's  simple  procla- 
mation the  highest  form  of  witness-beaiing  to  the 
J^ruth.  This  spirit  is  no  stranger  among  yon.  And 
I  am  persuaded  that  your  hearts  are  bm-ning  within 
you  as  you  think  that  to  you  ''  this  gi^ace  has  been 
given,  to  preach  unto  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ,  and  to  make  all  men  see  what  is  the 
stewardship  of  the  mystery  which  from  all  ages  hath 
been  hid  in  God."  You  need  not  that  I  should  ex- 
hort you  to  remember  that  above  all  else  '4t  is  re- 
quired in  stewards  that  a  man  be  found  faithful." 
May  God  grant  that  while  you  may  ask  in  wonder, 
as  you  contemplate  the  work  of  yom*  ministry. 
Who  is  sufacient  for  these  things  ?  you  may  be  able 
to  say,  like  Paul,  ^'  We  are  not  as  the  many,  corrupt- 
ing the  Word  of  God ;  but  as  of  sincerity,  but  as 
of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God,  speak  we  in  Christ." 
May  God  gi-ant  that  the  desire  which  flamed  in 
Paul  may  burn  in  you  too : 

Oh  could  I  tell  ye  surely  would  believe  it ! 

Oh  could  I  only  say  what  I  have  seen  ! 
How  should  I  tell  or  how  can  ye  receive  it, 

How  till  He  bringeth  you  where  I  have  been? 

Give  me  a  voice,  a  cry  and  a  complaining, — 
Oh  let  my  sound  be  stormy  in  their  ears  ! 

Throat  that  would  shout  but  cannot  stay  for  straining, 
Eyes  that  would  weep  but  cannot  wait  for  tears. 


FIRST  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE 
CHRIST. 

By  Prof.  John  D.  Davis,  Ph.D. 

"And  tJie  ttvo  disciples  heard  Mm  speak,  and  they  followed 
Jesus.  And  Jesus  turned,  and  heheld  them  following,  and  saith 
imto  them.  What  seek  ye?  And  they  said  unto  him,  BdbU 
(which  is  to  say,  being  interpreted.  Master),  where  abidest  thou? 
He  saith  unto  them.  Come,  and  ye  shall  see.  They  came  there- 
fore and  saw  where  he  abode ;  and  they  abode  with  him  that 
day :  it  tvas  about  the  tenth  hour.  One  of  the  tico  that  heard 
John  speaJc,  and  folloived  him,  was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's 
brother.  He  findeth  first  his  oivn  brother  Simon,  and  saith  unto 
him.  We  have  found  the  Messiah  (which  is,  being  interpreted, 
Christ).     He  brought  him  unto  Jesus."— J om^  1 :  37-42. 

ONE  of  the  two  that  heard  John  speak  and  fol- 
lowed Jesus  was  Andrew,  who  some  weeks 
later  was  caUed  to  leave  all  and  f  oUow  the  Master 
permanently,  and  who  later  still  was  set  apart  to  be 
an  apostle.  The  other  was  John,  who  hkewise  was 
afterward  called  to  permanent  feUowship  and  then 
to  apostleship.  At  least  the  inference  that  he  was 
John  is  warranted  by  the  fact  that  John,  who  alone 
records  the  event,  manifests  the  disposition  to  nar- 
rate such  incidents  only  as  came,  in  whole  or  in 
115 


116  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

part,  mider  his  own  observation ;  by  the  fact  that 
the  minute,  graphic  description  likewise  indicates 
an  eye-witness ;  by  the  fact  that,  though  he  men- 
tions two  men  with  Jesus,  he  leaves  one  unnamed 
— the  customary  modest  method  of  John  in  refer- 
ring to  himself  (21 :  2,  7). 

Andrew  and  John  could  and  did  make  a  living 
for  themselves.  No  shiftlessness  in  them.  Both 
were  fishermen,  perhaps  then  as  afterward  part- 
ners in  business  (Luke  5  :10 ;  Mark  1 :16).  One  at 
least  had  inherited  from  his  father  habits  of  indus- 
try, and  both  belonged  to  thrifty  families,  possessed 
some  little  propert}^,  and  hired  help  in  their  work. 

Andrew  and  John  were,  moreover,  at  this  time, 
before  they  had  felt  the  influence  of  Jesus,  religious 
men,  products  of  institutional  religion.  We  must 
not  undervalue  this.  We  must  not  forget  that, 
although  Jesus  had  occasion  to  say,  "Woe  unto 
thee,  Bethsaidaj  woe  unto  thee,  Capernaum,"  he 
was  not  condemning  the  religion  of  these  cities  in 
itseK,  but  only  the  spirit  which  animated  the  wor- 
shipers. The  instituted  religion  was  a  power  for 
good.  With  all  its  defects,  with  all  its  extreme 
views,  nevertheless  it  maintained,  amidst  the  dark- 
ness of  a  polytheistic  age,  the  worship  of  the  one, 
the  true  God ;  jealously  guarded  the  honor  of  his 
name,  as  Jewish   blood   shed  by  Seleucidan   and 


FIRST  INTERVIEIV  IVITH   THE  CHRIST.        117 

Roman  testified ;  taught  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath by  rest  and  pubHc  services ;  inculcated  a  lofty 
morality ;  and  had  lately  produced  characters  like 
Simeon  and  Anna,  Zacharias  and  Ehzabeth,  Joseph 
and  Mary.  Into  this  visible  Church  Andrew  and 
John  had  been  publicly  admitted  as  infants,  under 
its  influence  they  had  grown  to  manhood,  and  they 
came  to  Jesus  with  the  mass  of  their  religious  be- 
liefs correct.  The  minds  of  these  men  did  not  need 
to  be  unmade,  but  simply  enlightened. 

But  more :  Andrew  and  John  were  disciples  of 
John  the  Baptist.  They  had  visited  the  preacher 
at  the  Jordan,  their  eyes  had  been  opened  to  sin, 
they  had  heard  his  call,  had  been  baptized  unto 
repentance,  and,  whatever  their  conduct  may  have 
been  in  the  past,  were  resolved  henceforth  to  live 
in  newness  of  life  and  in  accordance  with  the  spirit 
of  Israel's  faith. 

It  is  not  strange  that  these  men  came  to  Jesus ; 
not  strange  that  they  were  the  first  to  come.  Men 
careless  about  making  provision  for  the  near  future 
are  logically  and  generally  careless  about  making 
provision  for  the  remote  and  eternal  futm-e.  Men 
under  the  influence  of  false  systems  of  religion,  the 
nations  of  heathenism  for  example,  are  as  a  nile 
won  for  Christ  only  by  the  toil  and  patience  and 
training  of  years.     Men  who  see  sin  in  the  deed 


118  PROFESSOR  DA^IS. 

only  and  are  content  when  the  outside  of  the  plat- 
ter has  been  cleaned,  men  who  confound  respecta- 
bility of  life  with  righteousness  in  God's  sight,  do 
not  follow  Christ,  for  they  know  no  need  of  him. 
Such  cases  are  indeed  not  hopeless.  It  is  a  glory 
of  Christ  that  he  has  hfted  a  shiftless,  criminal 
Jerry  McAuley  out  of  vice  into  virtue;  that  his 
truth  has  led  a  nation  of  cannibals  to  put  away 
cruelty  and  idolatry  in  a  day;  that  his  words 
pierced  the  self-sufficient,  moral  Nicodemus  and 
won  his  allegiance.  But  this  is  not  natural,  it  is 
exceptional.  The  men  we  expect  to  come  to  Jesus 
are  the  earnest  spirits  of  the  nation,  who  have  been 
trained  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  from  youth  up,  who 
have  been  taught  of  salvation  through  the  Christ, 
who  have  been  to  Jordan  and  have  realized  and 
resolved  that  the  ax  must  be  laid  to  the  root  of  the 
tree,  that  sin  must  be  destroyed  in  the  heart.  For 
such,  as  it  was  for  Andrew  and  John,  it  is  only  a 
step  to  Jesus,  only  a  step  to  a  life-long  fellowship 
with  the  Master. 

May  we  not  pause  here  to  consider  what  this 
means  with  reference  to  our  methods  of  work  ?  Is 
it  wise  for  us  to  seek  to  carry  the  good  news  of  sal- 
vation post-haste  and  as  mere  heralds  through  the 
world  ?  Or  shaU  the  Christian  Church,  to  whose 
trust  has  been  committed  the  Gospel,  in  its  work 


FIRST  INTERVIEIV  IVITH   THE  CHRIST.       119 

of  transmission  and  extension  found  and  foster 
cliiirches,  establish  schools,  gather  in  the  children, 
train  them  in  the  maxims  of  wisdom,  teach  them 
the  law  of  God  and  his  holy  fear,  seek  to  impress 
upon  them  the  guilt   and  loathsomeness  of  sin, 
show  them  that  its  roots  are  in  the  heart,  and  point 
them  to  the  Christ  as  prophet,  priest,  and  king? 
Success  does  not  always  attend  such  efforts  j  but 
history  from  the   time  of  John  the  Baptist  until 
now  declares  that  that  is  the  true  way.    As  we 
scatter  to  all  parts  of  the  earth  on  the  Master's 
business,  let  us  remember  this.     To  whatever  part 
of  this  comprehensive  work  you  may  be   called, 
whether  teaching  rudiments  or  unfolding  the  glory 
of  Christ  to  eager,  anxious  souls,  remember  that 
your  work  is  a  necessary  part  of  the  great  whole, 
and  do  it  for  Christ's  sake.     There  is  a  difference 
of  privilege,  but  the  same  work.    Aim  to  prepare 
Andrews  and  Johns. 

Jesus  turned,  beheld  the  two  men  following, 
and  said  unto  them,  "  What  seek  ye  ? "  They  said 
unto  him,  ^' Rabbi,  we  seek  to  know  where  thou 
abidest."  He  said  unto  them,  "Come,  and  ye  shall 
see."  They  came,  saw  where  he  abode,  and  tar- 
ried with  him  that  day.  He  had  just  come  from 
the  wilderness  victor  over  temptation,  triumphant 
in   faith  and  purpose.     His  act  was   an   inten- 


120  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

tional  revelation,  the  first  revelation  of  liis  public 
ministry. 

It  showed  to  those  men  the  possibility  of  fellow- 
ship with  the  Christ.  How  gracious  he  was !  Re- 
garded with  awe  by  their  teacher  the  Baptist,  de- 
clared by  him  to  be  the  God-chosen  King,  the 
ardently  desired  Messiah,  they  felt  him  to  be  far 
above  them.  They  had  followed  at  a  distance 
respectfully,  timidly ;  venturing  only  to  come  near 
enough  to  learn  where  he  dwelt.  He,  however, 
noticed  them,  trusted  them,  did  honor  to  their 
manhood,  granted  their  request  to  know  where  he 
dwelt  by  inviting  them  to  his  abiding-place,  walked 
side  by  side  with  them  thither,  and  talked  with 
them  by  the  way.  John  the  Baptist  had  spoken 
glorious  things  about  the  Great  Unknown  who 
stood  in  their  midst,  but  the  haK  had  not  been 
told.  Suddenly  a  great  Hght  had  shined  upon  them. 
The  Christ  was  full  of  grace. 

But  not  only  did  the  Christ's  attitude  reveal 
graciousness,  it  showed  his  fearless  openness.  He 
was  ready  to  be  seen  as  he  was :  to  take  them  at 
once,  without  preparation,  and  show  them  his  plain 
lodgings,  probably  a  booth ;  to  let  them  study  his 
manner  of  life,  to  examine  him  himself.  He  was 
like  the  neighboring  river  in  which  they  had  been 
baptized,  like  the  huge  mountains  behind  which 


FIRST  INTERVIEJV  IVITH  THE  CHRIST.       121 

the  declining  sun  was  about  to  set,  Eke  the  deep 
blue  sky  overhead — fuU  of  mystery,  but  hiding 
nothing.  He  that  had  eyes  to  see  and  eai's  to  hear, 
a  mind  to  think  and  a  heart  to  feel,  might  study 
and  know  who  he  is.  No  wonder  that  afterward 
one  of  these  two  men  who  followed  Jesus  described 
him  as  one  whom  he  had  seen  with  his  eyes,  whom 
he  had  heard,  whom  his  hands  had  handled — full 
of  grace  and  truth.  Jesus  did  nothing  secretly ;  he 
ever  taught  openly  in  the  Temple  ]  he  performed 
his  mighty  works  indifferently  where. 

Jesus  had  revealed  to  Andrew  and  John  the 
possibility  of  intimate  fellowship  with  him.  And 
^^  they  abode  with  him  that  day."  Afterward  An- 
drew sought  out  his  brother  Simon  and  said  unto 
him,  "We  have  found  the  Messiah."  Behold  the 
effect  of  intercourse  with  Jesus.  Their  brief  inter- 
view with  Jesus  had  wrought  in  them  the  convic- 
tion that  he  was  the  Christ.  "We  have  found  the 
Messiah." 

And  yet  there  was  apparently  nothing  extraor- 
dinary in  that  interview.  Jesus  certainly  wrought 
no  miracle ;  for  that  was  delayed,  as  we  know,  until 
the  marriage  at  Cana,  and  then  called  forth  a  new 
faith  in  these  men.  There  was  no  miracle ;  and, 
we  judge,  not  even  a  revelation  of  that  superhuman 
knowledge  which  he  manifested  a  day  or  so  later 


122  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

when  he  said  to  Nathanael,  ^^  Before  that  Philip 
called  thee,  when  thou  wast  under  the  fig  tree,  I 
saw  thee."  The  Apostle  John  in  narrating  the  first 
meeting  of  himself  and  Andrew  with  Jesus  records 
it  as  a  simple  interview ;  memorable,  not  by  mighty 
deeds,  but  by  its  effects  upon  two  lives. 

It  was,  moreover,  the  same  Jesus  that  had  min- 
gled with  men  for  thirty  years.  Why,  then,  should 
he  who  was  merely  respected  in  Nazareth  so  might- 
ily impress  these  men  now  ?  In  part,  because  while 
a  youth  in  his  father's  house  he  had  not  been  pointed 
out  to  men  as  the  Messiah.  The  story  of  his  birth 
and  of  his  presentation  in  the  Temple  belonged  to 
the  privacy  of  the  family.  The  fi-iends  of  the  Bap- 
tist's parents  knew  of  Zacharias'  dumbness,  and  of 
his  fervent  declaration,  when  his  tongue  was  loosed, 
that  the  son  who  had  just  been  born  to  him  should 
be  the  forerunner  of  the  Messiah ;  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  kindred  of  the  Baptist 
knew  an}iihing  connected  with  the  birth  of  Jesus. 
It  is  true  also  that  the  shepherds  had  looked  upon 
the  child,  and  that  wise  men  from  the  east  had  come 
to  Herod  asking  where  he  should  be  bom  that  was  to 
be  King  of  the  Jews.  But  the  shepherds  returned 
to  their  work  in  the  fields,  the  wise  men  had  quietly 
left  the  country,  and  Joseph  had  taken  Mary  and 
the  young  child  into  Egypt.     Herod's  excitement 


FIRST  INTERVIEIV  IVITH   THE  CHRIST.        123 

occasioned  by  the  visit  of  the  Magi,  leading  to  the 
convocation  of  the  doctors  of  the  law  to  declare 
unto  him  where  the  Christ  should  be  born  and  re- 
flecting itself  in  anxiety  thi'oughout  the  city  as  to 
what  course  the  freak  would  take,  had  been  allayed 
when  Herod  sent  armed  men  to  Bethlehem  to  slay 
all  the  babes  of  two  years  and  under.  When  after 
two  years  the  parents  of  Jesus  again  settled  in 
Nazareth,  it  was  merely  noised  abroad  that  the  car- 
penter and  his  wife  had  come  back  from  Egypt  and 
a  first-born  child  with  them. 

When  Jesus  began  to  be  about  thirty  years  of 
age,  there  were  apparently  but  two  persons  ahve 
who  were  acquainted  with  his  early  histoiy,  Mary 
and  John  the  Baptist ;  and  these  two  beheved  on 
him.  John  had  probably  heard  from  his  mother 
regarding  his  cousin,  but  he  had  refrained  from 
pointing  him  out  until  authorized.  Mary  treasured 
the  events  connected  with  the  infant  Jesus  and  pon- 
dered them  in  her  heart.  She  alone  was  left  as  wit- 
ness, and  it  is  doubtless  due  chiefly  to  the  testimony 
of  this  woman  that  we  owe  oui-  knowledge  of  the 
early  life  of  the  Master.  Jesus  had  not  affected  his 
fellow-townsmen  as  he  was  now  affecting  the  two 
fishermen,  partly  because  his  title  was  unproclaimed. 
His  beautiful  character  had  indeed  been  recognized ; 
he  grew  in  favor  with  God  and  man.     His  insight 


124  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

into  the  Scriptures  as  early  as  his  twelfth  year  was 
acknowledged  by  the  doctors  of  the  law  at  Jerusa- 
lem J  and  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
had  been  accepted  by  the  Nazarenes  as  a  reader  of 
the  Word  of  God  in  their  synagogue.  He  was  in- 
deed a  light )  but  he  was  a  light  shining  in  dark- 
ness, the  darkness  comprehending  it  not. 

But  again,  while  in  Nazareth  not  only  had  he 
been  unproclaimed,  he  had  hidden  his  hght  5  now 
his  hour  had  come.  At  Jordan  he  had  been 
anointed  by  the  Spirit  for  the  work  5  in  the  wilder- 
ness he  had  been  chastened  by  temptation,  and  had 
emerged  consecrated  to  his  mission ;  from  the  Bap- 
tist he  had  received  official  announcement.  Hence- 
forth he  is  able  and  wilhng  to  reveal  himseK  and 
his  doctrine  fully  and  fi'eely  to  men.  Andrew  and 
John  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  that  revelation,  are 
the  first  to  see  the  effects  of  that  conflict  and  feel 
the  influence  of  the  ennobled  soul. 

But  even  that  was  not  enough  to  account  for  the 
mighty  impression  the  Christ  made  upon  those  two 
friends ;  for  when  Jesus  later  returned  to  Nazareth 
and  offered  himself  to  his  countrymen,  they  led  him 
to  the  brow  of  the  hill  upon  which  their  city  was 
built,  and  would  have  cast  him  headlong  over  the 
brink.  Testimony  and  character  impressed  Pilate 
also  5  but  they  did  not  make  the  Roman  a  follower 


FIRST  INTERyiElV  IVITH   THE  CHRIST.        125 

of  the  Christ.  Since  his  day  testimony  and  char- 
acter have  impressed  thousands,  so  that  with  Rous- 
seau they  confess  that  the  hfe  and  death  of  Jesus 
are  those  of  a  God ;  and  yet  they  refuse  to  bow  in 
loyal  allegiance  to  him. 

In  the  case  of  Andrew  and  John  the  impression 
was  made  upon  men  prepared.  The  two  fi-iends 
had  already  turned  from  sin  to  God.  The  contrite  i. 
heart  joj^ully  receives  the  approved  Christ  5  and  \ 
therefore  again  we  say,  Aim  to  prepare  men  for 
Christ  by  leading  them  to  repentance.  In  the  early  ,• 
days  of  this  centuiy  in  western  Pennsylvania  the 
mighty  servants  of  God  who  labored  in  that  then 
wilderness  followed  this  method.  Gathering  the 
people  together  in  Nature's  temples,  holding  what 
many  suppose  to  be  the  first  camp-meetings,  day 
after  day  they  preached  the  law,  the  heart's  guilt, 
the  wrath  of  God,  until  the  audience  cast  them- 
selves prostrate  on  the  groimd  undone.  Then,  and 
not  tiU  then,  was  the  gracious  Saviour  held  up,  sin- 
ners beheved  and  arose,  and  a  sturdy,  godly  gener- 
ation sprang  into  being.  From  the  days  of  John 
the  Baptist  until  now  it  is  in  men  awake  and  re- 
pentant that  testimony  to  the  Christ  confirmed  by 
his  character  is  effectual. 

And  now  let  us  ask  what  there  was  in  this  special 
interview  with  Jesus  that  convinced  these  men  that 


126  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

he  was  the  Christ.  As  ah-eady  noticed,  there  was 
no  miracle  5  so  far  as  known,  no  display  of  superhu- 
man knowledge.  There  was,  however,  the  man— his 
personality,  his  aspect.  There  was  the  manner- 
supreme  grace  w^arming  the  heart,  awakening  affec- 
tion ;  frank  openness  begetting  confidence.  There 
was  the  talk— as  of  one  with  authority,  and  not  as 
the  scribes,  at  which  long  before  the  doctors  in  the 
Temple  had  marveled ;  talk  of  which  the  gi-acious- 
ness  later  at  Nazareth  awakened  the  wonder  of 
his  fellow-citizens  5  talk  which  more  than  once  by 
its  unanswerable  logic  and  heart-searchhig  power 
silenced  the  wily  questioner ;  talk  which  disarmed 
the  opposition  of  men  sent  to  lay  hands  on  him, 
and  called  forth  from  them  the  declaration,  ''  Never 
man  spake  as  this  man  "  j  talk  which,  on  the  way 
to  Emmaus,  the  speaker  unrecognized,  caused  the 
hearts  of  two  downcast  disciples  to  burn  within 
them. 

It  was  these  things,  the  man,  the  manner,  the 
converse,  which  convinced  Andrew  and  John  that 
they  had  found  the  Messiah  5  yea  more,  which 
wrought  in  them  the  belief  that  an  inter\dew  with 
Jesus  would  convince  other  men  also  :  for  Andrew 
sought  his  brother,  saying,  "We  have  found  the 
Messiah,"  and  brought  him  to  Jesus;  and  Philip 
told  Nathanael  that  they  had  found  him  of  whom 


FIRST  INTERVIEIV  IVITH   THE  CHRIST.       127 

Moses  in  the  law  and  tlie  prophets  did  speak,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth ;  and  to  the  rejoinder,  "  Can  any  good 
thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ? "  replied,  ^^  Come  and 
see." 

And  in  these  elements  there  is  evidence  of  Mes- 
siahship  of  great  convincing  power. 

1.  It  is  impossible  to  close  the  eyes  to  the  fact 
that,  as  promised  in  the  Mosaic  law,  a  masterful 
Prophet  had  arisen  like  unto  Moses ;  whose  right 
to  acknowledgment  stood  attested,  for  unquestion- 
ably he  spake  according  to  the  law  and  the  testi- 
mony. 

2.  Not  only  was  a  Prophet  undoubtedly  before 
them,  they  recognized  in  him  the  predicted  charac- 
ter also  of  the  sei^ant  of  the  Lord.  In  his  gracious- 
ness  and  sympathy  they  read  the  story,  "  Behold 
my  servant,  whom  I  uphold ;  my  chosen,  in  whom 
my  soul  delighteth.  ...  He  shaU  not  qtj,  nor  lift 
up,  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street.  A 
bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  the  smoking 
flax  shaU  he  not  quench."  ^^He  hath  sent  me  to 
bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  Kberty  to 
the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound." 

Brethren,  it  wlQ  be  your  privilege,  as  it  was  the 
privilege  of  Peter  and  Paul,  to  prove  from  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  that  Jesus  is  the 


128  PROFESSOR  DA^IS. 

veritable,  long-promised  Christ.  The  temptation  is 
too  often  }delded  to,  to  build  the  argument  solely 
on  minute  predictions,  to  cite  those  passages  only 
which  refer,  and  which  have  ever  been  understood 
by  the  Jews  to  refer,  to  the  place  of  the  Chi-ist's 
birth  and  to  other  incidents  of  his  history.  We 
would  utter  no  word  of  condemnation  against  such 
an  argument  when  made  with  scholarly  discrimina- 
tion and  adequate  knowledge.  It  subserves  one 
purpose  of  prophecy  j  it  is  authorized  by  the  New 
Testament ;  it  is  a  mighty  weapon  for  attack  and 
defense  -,  it  satisfies  the  craving  for  definite  proof. 
But  do  not  stop  with  this  argument,  neglecting  the 
weightier  matter.  Gro  to  the  valley  of  the  Jordan 
and  learn  from  the  two  disciples  who  first  followed 
Jesus  that  before  the  events  of  his  life  had  been 
enacted,  before  there  were  definite  incidents  to 
which  minute  predictions  in  any  number  could  be 
applied,  there  was  enough  in  Jesus  to  con\ince  that 
the  fulfillment  of  prophecy  was  there.  Jesus  in 
himself  and  Jesus  during  the  Christian  era  has 
realized  the  predicted  character,  and  that  is  the 
great  argument  from  prophecy. 

3.  There  was  perhaps  a  third  element  which  cor- 
roborated their  faith.  His  was  a  character  in  con- 
trast to  then*  own.  We  cannot  tell  how  clear  to 
their  minds  at  this  interview  was  the  wide  differ- 


FIRST  INTERVIEIV  IVITH   THE   CHRIST.        129 

ence  between  them  and  the  Master.  But  if  their 
senses  were  acute  enough  to  discern  it.  the  contrast 
convinced.  I  beheve  that  a  man  whose  eyes  are 
open  to  the  subtle  nature,  the  guilt  and  the  loath- 
someness of  sin ;  a  man  who  in  gi'ief  and  hatred 
thereof  has  tui-ned  from  it  unto  God ;  who  as  he 
contends  with  e\il,  struggles  ^vith  adversity,  and 
journeys  through  mysterious  dai-kness,  keeps  his 
eyes  fixed  on  Jesus  in  like  but  yet  fiercer  conflict, 
and  finds  Jesus,  in  contrast  with  himself,  ever  the 
strong,  patient,  uncomplaining,  trustfid,  obedient, 
sinless  Son  of  the  heavenly  Father— gazing  thus 
with  senses  exercised  and  keen,  cannot  fail  to  rec- 
ognize in  Jesus,  and  in  this  teeming  world  in  Jesus 
alone,  the  King.  The  figui-e  stands  sohtary  in 
earth's  history  who  is  glorious  in  holiness. 

There  stood  a  mighty  Prophet;  there  was  the 
predicted  character  of  the  Lord's  Sen^ant;  there 
was  a  peerless  One.  The  good  news  proclaimed 
by  John  the  Baptist  was  true.  The  Christ  had 
indeed  come. 


•  RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.* 

By  PRESfDENT  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"I  ivrite  unto  you,  young  men.'^ — 1.  John  2 :  13. 

XF  any  one  should  say  that  it  is  intrinsically 
-^  harder  for  men  to  be  reUgious  than  women,  I 
do  not  know  that  I  should  dispute  the  proposition. 
I  certainly  should  not  do  it  without  making  allow- 
ance for  the  special  temptations  to  which  men  are 
subject,  the  irreligious  atmospheres  into  which  they 
are  thrown,  and  the  many  influences  unfriendly  to 
reUgion  which  seem  to  beset  husbands,  sons  and 
brothers,  of  which  wives  and  mothers  and  sisters 
are  in  a  measure  at  least  happily  ignorant.  And 
so  I  can  understand  the  special  interest  with  which 
an  audience  of  men  is  regarded,  and  the  special 
ground  for  gratitude  that  there  is  when  in  some 
time  of  religious  interest  the  claims  of  the  Gospel 
take  hold  of  men. 

There  is  good  reason,  too,  for  the  particular  in- 
terest that  is  felt  in  young  men,  and  above  all, 

*  Preached  at  the  opening  of  the  college  year. 
130 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  131 

the  religious  life  of  young  men.  For  they  seem  to 
carry  with  them  the  world's  fortunes.  The  passing 
generation  sees  the  promise  of  its  o^vn  immortality 
in  the  rich  new  life  of  these  young  men.  Their  life 
is  all  before  them.  They  have  no  past.  Then-  fut- 
ui'e  is,  so  to  speakj  a  matter  of  then-  ot^ti  making. 
We  commit  the  world  of  the  futui'e  to  their  senses ; 
the  bright  electric  nights  to  their  \dsion ;  the  new 
discoveries  of  science  to  their  admiration.  "We 
shall  not  live  to  see  the  day,  but  you  will/'  we  are 
accustomed  to  say,  and  so  we  use  the  younger  gen- 
eration to  give  ourselves  an  artificial  longevity. 
There  is  a  peculiar  sympathy  which  a  yoimg  man 
awakens  in  us — awakens,  I  mean,  especially  in  men. 
We  understand  him.  How  much  of  our  life  he  is 
repeating!  How  in  all  he  does  he  seenTs  to  be 
plagiarizing  from  the  book  of  our  own  memoiy! 
His  hopes,  his  ambitions,  his  dreams,  his  enthusi- 
asms, sometimes  his  magnified  estimate  of  himself 
and  his  disregard  of  the  wisdom  of  his  elders — 
have  we  not  experienced  it  all?  His  follies,  too, 
and  his  blunders,  his  non-malicious  wi'ong-doing, 
sometimes  even  his  sins — did  we  not  go  before 
him  ?  Ah  then,  unless  we  are  selfish,  unless  we  are 
unwilling  that  others  shall  excel  us — here  is  the 
secret  of  our  anxiety,  of  our  interest  in  the  weKare 
of  these  young  lives.     It  is  the  contrast  between 


132  •  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

ourselves  conditioned,  handicapped  by  age,  by 
liabit,  by  the  momentum  we  have  gathered  in  the 
rush  down  the  stream,  and  these  young  men  with 
theu'  futm-e  before  them  and  in  their  own  hands 
that  di'aws  us  to  them.  If  we  had  our  lives  to  live 
over  again,  we  say,  we  should  act  differently.  We 
should  study  this  and  not  neglect  that.  But  now 
it  is  too  late,  and  we  must  make  the  best  of  such 
undisciphned  or  ill-disciplined  powers  as  we  have. 
But  these  young  men  we  think  can  avoid  these 
mistakes  J  and  we  would  fain,  if  they  would  let 
us  act  as  pilot  for  them,  steer  them  clear  of  the 
rocks  on  which  our  own  barks  were  well-nigh  ship- 
wrecked years  ago.  Oh,  how  wise  and  good  the 
race  would  be  if  wisdom  were  cumulative,  and  we 
the  heirs  of  all  the  ages  had  come  into  possession 
of  an  unwasted  inheritance ! 

And  when  to  youth  we  add  the  advantage  of  in- 
tellectual culture  we  magnify  the  interest  felt  in 
those  who  possess  them  both.  For  it  needs  no 
prophet  to  see  in  them  the  men  who  for  good  or  ill 
will  shape  the  history  of  the  next  generation.  Men 
fail  sometimes  to  fulfill  the  promise  of  their  youth. 
They  grow  sick  or  lose  heart,  or  succumb  to  lux- 
ury, or  fall  into  evil  habits ;  but  for  all  that  the 
world's  hope  and  the  world's  future  are  with  the 
educated  young  men  of  to-day. 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  133 

The  college  graduate  is  of  more  importance,  I 
dare  say,  than  the  undergraduate.  It  is  fair  to  sup- 
pose that  he  is  a  larger  factor  in  the  gi-eat  world's 
life.  Indeed,  it  is  in  order  to  get  ready  for  that 
great  world  that  we  come  to  college ;  and  so  be- 
cause the  graduate  has  gone  out  from  us  we  must 
not  on  that  account  hold  him  in  light  esteem.  But 
it  is  the  undergraduate  who  has  special  interest  in 
our  eyes.  There  are  good  reasons  for  this.  The 
coUege  world  is  mi  generis.  College  life  changes  a 
man  the  moment  he  begins  to  live  it.  Men  come 
hither  from  aU  parts  of  the  country ;  they  represent 
different  habits  of  thought,  states  of  society,  and 
modes  of  existence.  And  when  they  ai'e  here  they 
preserve  an  individuality  that  saves  them  from  any 
loss  of  identity  in  their  intercourse  with  one  an- 
other. They  can  be  separated  into  groups  accord- 
ing to  several  principles  of  division,  and  these 
groups  have  appropriate  designations  in  our  rich 
academic  vernacular.  But  to  the  outside  world 
they  aU  look  alike,  they  think  alike,  they  talk  alike, 
they  are  imbued  with  the  same  spirit  and  seem  to 
possess  a  common  life.  They  have  theu-  burning 
questions  and  their  organs  of  opinion.  They  have 
their  own  vocabulary  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  their 
own  code  of  ethics. 

There  are  good  and  bad  features  in  this  segre- 


134  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

gated  academic  life.  -  It  would  be  better  on  some 
accounts  if  we  were  in  closer  sjrmpathy  with  the 
every-day  life  of  the  world.  But  on  the  other  hand 
there  is  something  elevating  in  the  ideas  that  bring 
about  this  state  of  things.  A  man  need  not  study 
hard  in  order  to  keep  his  academic  standing,  but 
the  studious  men  give  college  life  its  character. 
And  there  is  that  in  intellectual  work  that  separates 
a  man  from  the  world.  Bring  men  of  intellectual 
tastes  together  and  you  of  necessity  establish  an 
intellectual  caste.  You  create  a  community  that 
loves  refinement  and  that  protests  against  all  that 
is  sordid  and  vulgarizing. 

I  am  expressing  myself,  therefore,  in  the  tamest 
words  when  I  say  that  no  audience  can  excite  my 
interest  like  the  one  that  faces  me  to-day.  You 
are  standing  on  the  threshold  of  manhood  or  have 
barely  crossed  it.  You  have  had  your  first  glimpses 
of  the  new  world  of  thought  and  knowledge  that 
is  open  to  youi'  exploration.  You  have  begun  to 
feel  your  own  power  and  to  try  your  strength  in 
grappling  with  the  great  questions  of  life  and  des- 
tiny. Your  thoughts  have  not  yet  dug  for  them- 
selves the  grooves  which  make  the  thinking  of 
some  people  easy  by  making  it  narrow  and  repeti- 
tious. You  have  hardly  decided  yet  what  channels 
your  energies  shall  run  in,  and  you  hke  to  keep  it 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  135 

still  an  open  question  what  your  profession  shall 
be,  lest  you  come  prematui-ely  into  bondage  to  a 
career.  You  are  at  the  transition  stage,  perhaps, 
in  your  religious  life,  when  the  faith  of  childhood 
is  hardening  into  reasoned  conviction,  or  when  per- 
haps you  fear  a  schism  between  your  reason  and 
your  heart.  And  in  the  short  life  of  an  academic 
generation  you  will  go  out  from  this  unique  under- 
graduate existence  into  the  larger  life  of  the  world, 
helped,  it  may  be— God  forbid  that  you  should  be 
hindered— in  yoiu*  dealings  with  these  great  ques- 
tions by  what  you  hear  from  us  who  meanwhile  are 
your  oflcial  guides.  I  ask  no  greater  pri\ilege  on 
earth  than  that  I  may  be  able  from  time  to  time  to 
speak  in  a  worthy,  helpful  way  from  this  pulpit  to 
you  and  to  those  who,  after  you,  shall  occupy  these 
pews. 

My  text  does  not  shut  me  up  to  any  given  hne 
of  thought,  but  you  will  already  have  gathered  that 
my  remarks  will  be  based  upon  the  relations  of  re- 
ligion to  college  life.  Let  me  have  your  attention, 
then,  while  I  say  a  few  words  in  reference  to  two 
questions :  1.  How  religion  should  affect  your  col- 
lege life.  2.  How  college  life  should  affect  your 
religion. 

I.  I  take  it  for  gi^anted  that,  in  a  certain  sense  at 
least,  most  of  you  are  religious  men.     Many  of  you 


136  PRESIDENT  PATTO'N. 

are  avowedly  so.  You  come  for  the  most  part  from 
religious  homes.  You  are  men  of  religious  convic- 
tions, even  though  you  may  have  given  no  formal 
expression  to  your  convictions.  You  have  not  dis- 
carded the  faith  in  which  you  were  trained,  though 
possibly  you  have  not  made  any  acknowledgment 
of  it.  You  will  so  far  admit  the  claims  of  the 
Gospel  as  to  recognize  your  obligations  to  con- 
form to  its  teaching,  however  much  in  the  case 
of  some  of  you  your  lives  may  contradict  that 
teaching. 

How  should  the  Gospel,  as  you  have  been  taught 
it,  affect  your  college  career  ?  How  should  it  oper- 
ate upon  that  individual  and  corporate  life  of  which 
we  are  bound  to  take  cognizance  in  the  administra- 
tion of  college  affairs  ? 

The  day  has  gone  by  when  it  was  necessary  to 
show  that  a  man  might  be  a  Christian  and  at  the 
same  time  enjoy  life.  The  Christian  who  thinks 
that  depression  of  spirits  is  a  sign  of  piety  belongs 
to  an  extinct  type.  When  it  is  ui'ged,  therefore, 
that  athletic  sports  foster  a  manly  spirit  and  de- 
velop healthy  tissue ;  when  it  is  said  that  the  ele- 
ment of  emulation  is  necessary  to  give  them  zest ; 
and  when  without  undue  waste  of  time,  without 
the  sacrifice — as  has  confessedly  been  the  case  in 
more  than  one  instance — of  an  entire  session's  work 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  137 

in  the  class-room,  when,  without  contributing  to 
the  gambling  habit. — which  has  already  become  a 
national  cui-se — the  representatives  of  leading  col- 
leges engage  in  honorable  and  gentlemanly  con- 
tests for  supremacy;  I  do  not  feel  that  there  is 
in  all  this  any  necessary  compromise  of  Christian 
principle,  and  it  would  never  occur  to  me  to  re- 
pent at  my  leisure  of  any  impulsive  enthusiasm  that 
I  may  have  evinced.  There  is  no  reason  why  a  man 
should  forfeit  his  manliness  by  being  a  Christian. 
He  should  cultivate  a  gentle  spirit,  and  the  passive 
\di'tues  have  a  high  place  among  the  Christian 
graces.  With  the  etiquette,  with  the  unwritten 
code  of  honor  existing  among  undergraduates 
which  controls  so  much  of  then-  relation  to  one 
another  and  to  college  authorities,  I  have  a  great 
deal  of  S}Tnpathy ;  though  I  think  that  some  good 
principles  are  allowed  too  wide  a  range  of  applica- 
tion. A  man  is  not  called  upon — at  least  in  ordi- 
nary circumstances — to  be  a  tale-bearer  or  a  spy 
even  in  the  interests  of  religion.  I  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  making  pretty  large  concessions  to  under- 
graduate sentiment  in  more  things  than  one.  It 
would  be  hard  for  you  to  make  demands  with  re- 
spect to  the  inviolability  of  personality  and  the 
rights  of  manhood  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  grant. 
You  sustain  relations  to  the  governing  body  of  this 


138  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

college  that  give  rise  to  perplexing  problems  and 
that  involve  difficulties  that  you  hardly  appreciate. 
But  I  would  rather  bear  with  the  difficulties  than 
t^ke  an  unbidden  step  across  the  thi-eshold  of  your 
inner  life.  The  incredulous  look,  the  suggestion 
that  impeaches  your  motive,  the  inquiry  that  need- 
lessly assails  the  very  citadel  of  your  manhood,  you 
have  a  right  to  be  aggrieved  at.  There  is  no  fun- 
damental difference  of  sentiment  between  profess- 
ors and  students  in  this  college  so  far  as  these 
matters  are  concerned,  though  it  is  more  than  like- 
ly there  may  be  a  difference  of  emphasis.  You 
would  YQYj  properly  have  us  remember  that  you 
are  men.  "We,  on  the  other  hand,  cannot  well  for- 
get that  you  are  young  men.  That  is  the  whole  of 
it.  And  it  should  not  be  a  matter  of  offense  if, 
when  I  speak  of  the  excellences  of  your  life,  I  call 
your  attention  to  some  of  its  limitations. 

When  you  and  I  are  old  enough  we  shall  be  se- 
date perhaps,  calm,  self-contained,  judicial.  Now, 
however,  our  friends  must  bear  with  us ;  and  if  we 
are  only  ingenuous,  kind-hearted,  and  responsive 
to  affectionate  treatment,  they  must  give  us  credit 
for  it ;  and  we  must  not  take  it  ill  if  they  tell  us 
plainly  that  we  are  impulsive,  hot-headed,  swayed 
by  feeling,  and  a  trifle  inconsiderate.  I  dare  say 
we  are.     But  if  we  are  Christians,  and  we  profess 


RELIGION  IN   COLLEGE.  139 

to  make  practical  use  of  Christian  principles,  we 
should  study  to  conform  our  conduct  to  these  prin- 
ciples. It  will  not  do  for  us  to  fall  back  upon  our 
Christian  faith  as  an  atonement  for  oui'  unchristian 
practice. 

There  are  a  great  many  ways  in  which  I  might 
profitably  apply  Chi-istian  principle  to  college  life. 
I  think  the  lack  of  conscientiousness  is  perhaps  a 
serious  matter  with  all  of  us.  Many  a  man,  I  am 
sure,  would  find  a  spur  to  diligence  in  study  if  he 
would  seriously  interrogate  his  conscience  as  to  the 
use  of  his  own  time  and  his  father's  money  during 
his  undergi-aduate  days.  Many  a  man  would  be 
saved  from  the  indiscretions  incident  to  the  young 
gregarious  life  of  college  students  if  he  would  take 
time  to  reflect  upon  his  personal  accountability  to 
God.  And  here  I  am  reminded  of  one  or  two  at 
least  of  the  faults  that  are  characteristic  of  your 
class  which  I  think  your  religion  ought  to  enable 
you  to  redress. 

We  must  rely  upon  personal  religion  to  correct 
the  evil  tendency  of  the  gregarious  habit  in  college 
students  by  the  assertion  of  individual  responsi- 
bility'. There  is  a  tendency  for  the  individual  to 
lose  himself  in  the  organism  that  he  belongs  to. 
That  there  is  a  good  side  to  this  I  can  very  readily 
allow.     It  saves  a  man  from  conceit,  it  is  a  check 


140  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

upon  the  egotism  that  intellectual  life  is  so  apt  to 
foster,  it  is  a  lesson  in  the  great  art  of  bearing  one 
another's  bui'dens,  it  is  an  illustration  of  the  truth 
that  we  are  members  one  of  another — when  a  stu- 
dent is  ready  to  sink  personal  advantage  for  the 
honor  of  his  class,  or  when  all  make  common  cause 
in  the  interest  of  one.  We  should  lose  much  if  we 
did  not  have  the  instinct  that  leads  us  to  realize  a 
corporate  life.  The  Church  is  founded  upon  this 
idea.  When  one  member  suffers  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it.  Society  itself  presupposes  it.  And 
when,  in  our  selfishness,  in  our  greed  of  distinction 
or  of  gain,  in  our  pride  of  intellect  and  self-suffi- 
ciency, we  isolate  ourselves,  or  are  cut  off  from  fel- 
lowship by  the  tacit  mandate  of  oiu'  fellows,  we  are 
working  for  the  disintegration  of  social  life.  I  love 
the  principle  that  lies  at  the  bottom  of  corporate 
undergraduate  class-sentiment.  It  is  to  a  great 
extent  a  peculiarity  of  American  colleges.  It  is 
something  that  our  system  of  prizes  offered  in  com- 
petition has  so  far  not  superseded.  And  much  as 
I  believe  in  giving  honor  where  honor  is  due,  and 
holding  out  inducements  for  high  intellectual  at- 
tainment, I  should  be  sorry  if  a  spirit  of  individu- 
alism, of  jealous  and  querulous  antagonism,  should 
ever  grow  up  among  the  undergraduates  of  our 
colleges,  that  would  make  it  necessary  for  Professor 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  HI 

Biyce  to  qualify  the  generous  words  wliicli  lie  uses 
in  his  recent  book  on  the  American  Conunonwealth, 
when,  after  speaking  of  some  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  American  University,  he  says:   "The  other 
merit  is  that  the  love  of  knowledge  and  truth  is 
not,  among  the  better  minds,  vulgarized  by  being 
made  the  slave  of  competition  and  of  the  passion 
for  quick  and  conspicuous  success.     An  American 
student  is  not  induced  by  his  university  to  think 
less  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  what  he  is  learning 
than  of  how  far  it  wiU  pay  in  an  examination,  nor 
does  he  regard  his  ablest  fellow-students  as  his 
rivals  over  a  difficult  course  for  high  stakes,  rivals 
whose  speed  and  strength  he  must  be  constantly 
comparing  with  his  own."    There  is,  however,  a  bad 
side  to  this  corporate  or  class  sentiment,  and  it  is 
that  under  the  operation  of  it  a  man  will  let  his 
conscience  sleep  and  make  the  corporate  sentiment 
do  her  work.    You  do  not  like  to  seem  peculiar; 
you  do  not  care  to  be  over-righteous  or  over-wise. 
You  do  not  think  that  there  can  be  much  harm  in 
what  all  the  rest  approve.     And  so,  true  to  your 
gregarious  instincts,  true  to  that  subtle  law  of  your 
nature  that  affirms  the  solidarity  of  social  hfe,  you 
force  conscience  to  abdicate  when  she  stands  up 
for  the  sovereignty  of  the  individual,  and  you  fol- 
low the  multitude  to  do  evH.     I  do  not  know  a 


142  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

more  needed  lesson  among  college  men  than  that 
concerning  the  sacredness  of  the  individual  con- 
science. There  is  a  gi'eat  deal  in  the  inspiration  of 
a  common  cause  j  but  there  is  a  limit  to  a  man's 
obligation  to  sacrifice  his  personality  even  in  a 
good  cause.  Let  no  man  invade  yom-  self -hood. 
Do  not  put  your  personality  into  a  common  fund. 
Do  not  tamper  with  the  autonomy  of  your  own 
conscience  by  putting  it  under  the  control  of  an 
organization.  I  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  most 
disastrous  things  in  our  moral  life  to-day  that  we 
are  so  under  the  tyranny  of  public  sentiment,  so 
conditioned  by  the  fear  of  what  other  people  will 
say  or  think,  that  we  do  not  give  our  conscience  a 
fair  chance,  and  in  consequence  are  beginning  to 
lose  the  sense  of  face-to-face  accountabiUty  to  God. 
If  this  be  so,  even  with  regard  to  things  that  at 
least  can  be  said  to  have  good  motives  behind  them, 
how  much  more  are  we  to  be  blamed  when  we 
allow  ourselves  to  tolerate  or  take  part  in  proceed- 
iags  that  we  would  have  no  thought  of  defending, 
except  on  the  plea  that  they  all  do  it. 

We  must  also  rely  upon  the  religious  convictions 
of  Christian  men  to  correct  a  false  doctrine  of  rela- 
tivity that  prevails  among  college  students.  Theo- 
retically we  are  agreed :  right  is  right ;  wrong  is 
wrong )  always,  everywhere.     Practically,  it  is  oth- 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  143 

erwise.  There  is  one  standard  for  the  individual, 
another  for  the  organization.  Let  ns  not  deal  with 
this  question  by  way  of  excessive  refinement.  Cases 
do  differ,  and  where  conduct  is  considered,  time, 
place,  and  circumstances  must  be  considered.  There 
is  no  rudeness  offered  by  a  slap  on  the  shoulder 
where  that  is  a  recognized  mode  of  salutation  among 
comrades.  Whether  enteiing  your  house  without 
knocking  is  an  insult  or  only  a  sign  of  friendship 
depends  on  what  oui'  relations  ai*e.  Whether  a 
given  act  is  an  injury  depends  on  how  it  is  taken : 
Volenti  non  fit  injuria :  those  old  Romans  put  a 
great  deal  of  sense  into  their  maxims.  And  yet 
there  is  an  abuse  of  this  idea  of  relativity  in  morals 
that  calls  for  very  serious  consideration.  If  you 
say  that  it  goes  everywhere  and  affects  Chi-istians 
generally,  I  am  sorry  to  admit  that  this  is  true. 
Some  men  do  in  Europe  what  they  will  not  do  at 
home.  Some  are  dishonest  and  untruthful  in  the 
minor  matters  and  conventionalities  of  Hfe,  who  in 
more  serious  things  are  very  scrupulous  and  honest. 
This,  however,  is  no  excuse  for  that  phase  of  rela- 
tivity with  which  we  are  made  familiar  in  college 
morals  according  to  which  a  freshman's  room  is 
an  exception  to  the  law  that  a  man's  house  is  his 
castle ;  according  to  which  it  is  wrong  to  he,  but 
right  to  deceive  a  professor ;  according  to  which  it 


144  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

is  wrong  to  steal,  but  right  to  take  aids  to  reflection 
into  an  examination  hall. 

Let  me  not  be  understood  as  making  a  sweeping 
allegation  in  what  I  say.  I  am  aware  of  the  high 
moral  tone  that  prevails  in  this  college ;  and  that 
the  matters  referred  to  are  of  comparatively  infre- 
quent occurrence,  and  that  when  they  do  occur  it 
is  but  rarely  that  they  imply  any  fixed  determina- 
tion of  character.  In  respect  to  some  of  these 
matters  there  is  a  growing  sentiment  among  under- 
graduates that  will  soon,  I  hope,  become  so  strong 
as  to  supersede  both  law  and  police;  for  I  have 
more  confidence  in  the  Chiistian  conscience  than  I 
have  in  any  other  agency.  Our  hope  of  reforming 
coUege  morals  hes  in  addressing  the  conscience.  It 
is  only  as  laws  reach  the  conscience  that  they  have 
much  practical  value.  Therefore,  when  they  are 
oppressive  and  suggest  injustice,  they  should  be 
modified  in  the  interest  of  morality. 

We  must  look,  then,  to  ihe  religious  men  of  the 
coUege  to  exert  positive  influence  in  the  creation 
of  a  proper  public  sentiment.  They  are  numerous 
enough,  they  are  possessed  of  sufficient  weight  of 
character,  and  theu^  influential  position  in  the  gi'eat 
centers  of  undergi-aduate  influence  is  great  enough, 
to  enable  them  to  control  sentiment ;  and  when  it 
is  understood  that  undergi-aduate  sentiment  wiU 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  145 

not  tolerate  the  presence  of  the  man  who  habitually 
defies  the  law  of  God  and  of  good  manners^  the  era 
of  academic  freedom  will  dawn. 

I  appeal,  therefore,  to  your  Christian  sentiments 
and  youi'  religious  convictions,  gentlemen,  as  the 
basis,  and  the  only  basis  upon  which  we  can  pro- 
ceed, toward  the  abolition  of  multitudinous  laws, 
toward  the  repeal  of  regulations  that  seem  in  the 
judgment  of  some  to  be  out  of  keeping  with  the  life 
of  full-grown  men. 

I  think  there  are  some  things  that  a  man's  man- 
liness should  do  for  him,  and  that  certainly  his  re- 
ligion should  do  for  him.  It  should  give  him  such 
a  conscientious  desire  to  receive  instruction  that  it 
would  not  be  necessary  to  keep  a  double-entry  ac- 
count of  his  attendance  in  the  class-room,  with  a 
debit  to  absence  and  a  credit  to  excuse ;  it  should 
inspire  even  a  somewhat  feeble  person  with  strength 
to  stand  on  his  feet  dm-ing  the  singing  of  a  morn- 
ing hymn;  and  it  should  furnish  a  motive  for  a 
proper  use  of  time  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
that  would  make  it  a  superfluous  labor  for  pro- 
fessors to  find  mathematical  equivalents  in  whole 
numbers  and  fractions  of  an  examination  paper 
that  represents  in  too  many  cases  the  indolence  of 
a  term  and  the  industry  of  the  night  before. 

You  complain  of  bondage  and  sigh  for  freedom. 


146  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

I  sympathize  T\dtli  you.  I  am  on  youi*  side.  But 
the  matter  is  in  your  own  hands.  And  when  in 
reference  to  those  things  that  now  make  laws  a 
necessity  there  shall  have  come  about  that  change 
of  sentiment  that  plainly  says,  ^^  When  I  was  a  child 
I  thought  as  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  I  understood 
as  a  child,  but  when  I  became  a  man  I  put  away 
childish  things  " — then,  too,  will  come  the  freedom 
that  you  seek ;  for  the  law  will  cease  to  be  statute 
by  being  transformed  into  life,  and  it  will  thence- 
forth be  the  perfect  law  of  liberty. 

In  what  I  have  been  sa}4ng  I  have  had  special 
reference  to  the  bearing  of  your  rehgious  profes- 
sion upon  your  corporate  life  as  a  student-body  and 
upon  the  relation  which  you  sustain  as  a  body  of 
undergraduates  to  the  coUege  authorities.  I  have 
not  said  anything  about  the  influence  which  your 
religion  should  exert  in  keeping  you  from  spiritual 
harm :  and  one  would  think  that  if  Christian  con- 
victions are  worth  anything  they  should  enable  you 
to  say  "  No  "  to  temptation,  and  resist  soHcitations 
to  vice.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  weak  rehgion  in  the  world,  and  I 
am  afraid  that  matters  are  not  improved  by  the 
unmanly  way  in  which  we  sometimes  talk  upon  the 
subject.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  accustom  ourselves 
to  this  effeminate  mode   of  regarding  Christian 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  147 

faith :  when  instead  of  being  a  shield  which  pro- 
tects us  from  assaults,  instead  of  being  a  stout 
club  with  which  we  knock  temptation  on  the  head, 
instead  of  being  a  sword  wherewith  we  slay  our 
spiritual  enemies,  it  is  regarded  rather  as  a  very 
weak  companion  that  we  must  nurse  tenderly  and 
that  cannot  go  out  at  night.  I  wish  there  were 
more  robust  piety  in  the  world  and  less  of  the 
sickly  kind.  There  would  then  be  less  occasion  for 
the  solicitude  that  parents  now  feel  regarding  the 
religious  health  of  their  sons  who  come  to  college. 
I  must,  however,  respect  this  solicitude. 

II.  Having,  therefore,  spoken  in  the  first  place 
on  the  question,  How  religion  should  affect  your 
coUege  life,  I  must  now  speak  on  the  question.  How 
coUege  life  should  affect  your  religion.  Many  an 
anxious  parent  is  raising  this  question  to-day.  He 
knows  that  in  this  seat  of  learning  his  son  wiU 
have  many  advantages  of  an  intellectual  kind,  but 
he  wonders  whether  he  wiU  not  also  be  exposed  to 
a  great  many  temptations,  and  whether  in  his  gain 
of  learning  he  may  not  lose  his  soul.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  a  college  man  has  to  face  tempta- 
tions. We  do  our  best  to  keep  immoral  influences 
out  of  the  college,  and  I  believe  in  dealing  with 
these  influences  with  a  strong  hand.  When  com- 
mon fame  accuses  a  man  of  exerting  a  corrupting 


148  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

influence  in  the  college,  I  want  no  maxims  from 
the  common  law  to  stand  in  the  way  of  college 
purity.  Do  not  quote  under  such  circumstances 
the  doctrine  of  second  jeopardy,  or  say  that  the 
law  looks  in  favore)n  litae.  Do  not  tell  me  that  a 
man  is  innocent  until  he  is  found  to  be  guilty,  or 
suppose  that  the  provisions  of  the  criminal  suit 
will  apply  to  college  procedure.  There  are  times 
when  a  man  should  be  held  guilty  until  he  is  found 
innocent,  and  when  it  is  for  him  to  vindicate  him- 
self and  not  for  us  to  convict  him. 

But  when  we  have  done  our  best,  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  us  to  guarantee  those  who  come  here 
against  temptations.  Adolescence  has  its  perils, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  a  man  would  escape  them 
if  he  remained  at  home.  Parents  sometimes  speak 
of  the  special  temptations  of  college  Hf  e :  as  though 
there  were  no  temptations  in  business  5  as  though 
clerks  in  banks  and  in  brokers'  offices  were  all  the 
time  under  holy  influences ;  as  though  the  philoso- 
phers of  Wall  Street  were  somehow  in  closer  touch 
with  the  ten  commandments.  I  suppose  that  men 
in  shops  and  on  farms  have  to  face  temptation.  A 
man  may  shun  his  kind,  but  he  cannot  shun  him- 
self. He  may  avoid  all  company  but  his  own,  and 
sometimes  that  is  the  worst. 

There  are  pei-ils  to  morals,  and  there  are  perils 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  149 

to  faith  in  connection  with  a  college  life — probably 
no  greater  in  college  than  elsewhere.  Men  some- 
times make  sad  failures  in  college.  They  leave 
home  with  good  intentions  and  noble  purpose,  but 
are  weak-willed  and  wanting  in  stabihty,  form  bad 
companionships,  and  are  led  into  corrupting  prac- 
tices. They  come  from  homes  where  they  have 
been  kept  under  constant  watch  and  have  had  to 
give  strict  account  of  their  time,  and  find  even  the 
limited  freedom  allowed  them  here  too  much  for 
them:  they  become  indolent  and  lose  relish  for 
study.  They  are  thrown  into  a  larger  companion- 
ship than  they  had  ever  known  before,  and  when 
they  find  that  their  capacity  for  leadership  in  all 
that  is  daring  and  in  contravention  of  established 
law  has  made  them  popular,  their  scholarly  ambi- 
tions die  a  very  easy  death. 

I  fear  lest  there  may  be  some  of  you  who  are 
making  these  mistakes,  and  I  am  sorry  for  you  -,  but 
I  am  more  sony  for  your  fathers  and  mothers  who 
sent  you  here,  and  whose  agony  of  disappointment 
I  think  no  one  can  well  understand  who  has  not 
had  boys  of  his  own.  And  yet  a  man  who  suc- 
cumbs to  temptation  in  college  would  in  all  proba- 
bility fare  no  better  elsewhere.  Sooner  or  later  a 
man  must  learn  to  take  care  of  himself.  He  must 
come  into  possession  of  his  freedom,  and  it  is  no 


150  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

small  pai't  of  a  good  education  to  prepare  a  man  in 
the  best  manner  for  the  use  of  that  freedom.     I  do 
not  think  that  it  is  wise  to  perpetuate  in  college  the 
methods  of  the  preparatory  school.     Rules  there 
must  be,  but  they  should  be  as  few  and  simple  as 
possible.    Requirements  of  attendance  there  should 
be,  and  a  proper  method  of  enforcing  them,  but 
they  should  be  in  keeping  with  the   advancing 
years,  the  maturing  powers,  and  the  approaching 
manhood  of  those  to  whom  they  apply.     And  it 
seems  to  me  that  it  is  one  of  the  special  features 
of  your  life  here  that  you  come  into  possession  of 
that  freedom  of  thought  and  action  that  you  rightly 
prize  as  one  of  the  chief  attributes  of  your  man- 
hood, under  the  best  conditions.     You  are  invested 
with  the  franchises  of  manhood  in  a  time  and  way 
that  suggest  personal  responsibility  5  and  so  that 
instead  of  opening  a  door  for  self-indulgence,  they 
become  a  factor  in  your  moral  education.     I  do 
not  think  that  the  college   student  feels  on  his 
twenty-first  birthday  an  impulse  to  throw  off  the 
yoke  of  parental  authority ;  I  am  inclined  to  sup- 
pose that  he  is  only  made  the  more  conscious  by 
the  occasion  that  he  must  soon  take  the  responsi- 
bility of  his  future  in  his  own  keeping.     You  are 
living  under  conditions  best  fitted  to  make  you  feel 
what  Dr.  Chalmers  called  the  expulsive  power  of  a 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  151 

new  affection.  You  are  dealing  with  serious  prob- 
lems. You  are  reading  the  best  books.  Your  em- 
ployments are  elevating.  You  are  handling  great 
questions  in  history,  morals,  economics,  politics; 
and  whether  these  questions  are  treated  under  dis- 
tinctively religious  conceptions  or  not,  they  suggest 
rehgious  ideas,  for  they  suggest  the  idea  of  the  fit- 
ting, the  best,  the  right,  the  true.  You  are  not  sim- 
ply studying  facts.  You  ai-e  not  asking  merely 
what  is,  but  what  ought  to  be.  You  are  forming 
ideals,  and  when  you  are  doing  that  you  are  on  the 
border-land  of  religion.  It  is  not  religious  preju- 
dice, it  is  sound  philosophy  that  Principal  Shairp 
gives  utterance  to  when  he  says  that  religion  is  the 
goal  of  culture. 

A  man's  studies  should  have  a  moral  as  well  as 
an  intellectual  influence  upon  him.  Physics  should 
make  him  more  truthful.  Astronomy  more  reverent. 
Literature  more  genial.  Social  Science  more  benev- 
olent. Philosophy  more  believing.  The  law  of  the  , 
Lord  is  perfect.  Nature  teaches  that  as  well  as 
Scripture.  The  star  keeps  its  appointment  with 
the  observer,  and  the  belated  Frenchman  only  re- 
vealed his  vanity  and  his  ignorance  when  he  asked 
the  astronomer  to  encore  the  eclipse.  And  besides 
this  indirect  religious  influence  that  serious  study 
in  all  lines  is  fitted  to  exert,  there  is  in  this  college 


152  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

especially,  and  I  trust  there  always  will  be,  a  body 
of  men  who,  however  strong  they  may  be  in  their 
departments,  and  however  enthusiastic  they  may 
"be  in  the  prosecution  of  them,  are  not  ashamed  to 
say :  ''  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty,  the 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  in  Jesus  Christ, 
his  only  Son."  To  this  Christian  influence  many  a 
man  in  the  years  to  come  will  express  obligation 
for  the  perpetuation  of  his  religious  faith.  Many 
a  man  will  say  when  asked  what  saved  him  from 
skepticism,  in  words  that  bear  a  different  meaning 
from  that  which  he  who  wrote  them  intended  : 

"For  rigorous  teachers  seized  my  youtli 

And  purged  its  faith  and  trimmed  its  fire, 
Showed  me  the  high  white  Star  of  Truth, 
There  bade  me  gaze  and  there  aspire." 

There  are,  as  I  have  already  said,  perils  of  faith 
as  well  as  perils  of  morals  in  connection  with  a 
career  in  coUege.  This  is  unavoidable.  The  possi- 
bility of  religious  doubt  can  be  avoided  only  by 
avoiding  religious  questions  altogether  j  and  relig- 
ious questions  can  be  avoided  only  by  deliberately 
choosing  a  life  of  stupidity  and  ignorance.  All 
questions  are  at  bottom  religious  questions;  all 
inquiries  have  rehgious  implications.  Back  of 
physics  lie  metaphysics.  Behind  the  facts  of  his- 
tory" lies  the  philosophy  of  history.      Economic 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  153 

questions  raise  ethical  problems,  and  our  view  of 
ethical  problems  will  depend  very  much  upon 
whether  we  believe  in  God.  College  men  have  also 
among  them  those  who  are  under  strong  impulse 
to  antagonize  established  beliefs,  or  who  seek  to 
show  originality  by  constructing  a  universe  of  their 
own.  There  are  conceited  men  who  show  their 
intellectual  pride  by  treating  religious  faith  with 
scorn ;  and  weak-minded  men  who  come  under  the 
spell  of  a  favorite  author  and  cannot  admire  his 
style  without  imbibing  his  views.  And  there  are  be- 
sides those  who  feel  honestly,  earnestly,  interested 
in  knowing  for  themselves  the  reasons  for  the  faith 
in  which  they  were  trained.  They  will  not  consent 
to  hold  a  merely  traditional  creed,  and,  though  it  cost 
them  many  a  struggle,  are  determined  to  reach  bed- 
rock before  they  consent  -to  build  the  house  of  faith. 
The  man  of  this  sort^ — I  have  great  respect  for 
him — is  very  apt  to  be  an  educated  man : 

"  Perplexed  in  faith,  but  pure  in  deeds, 
At  last  he  beat  his  music  out ; 
There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds. 

"  He  fought  his  doubts  and  gathered  strength ; 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 
He  faced  the  specters  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them ;  thus  he  came,  at  length, 
To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own." 


154  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

And  yet  when  we  remember  how  skepticism  par 
rades  itself  in  our  newspapers,  pubhshes  itself  in 
our  magazines,  lectures  to  us  from  the  rostrum, 
and  assails  om*  ears  in  the  street-car ;  when  we  see 
the  facility  with  which  the  charlatan  poses  as  a 
philosopher,  and  how  a  witty  infidel  can  produce 
the  impression  of  being  the  sum  of  all  wisdom,  we 
need  not  suppose  that  the  college  student  is  ex- 
posed to  any  special  temptations.  On  the  contrary, 
the  very  conditions  under  which  he  carries  on  his 
work  are  favorable  to  the  conservation  of  his  re- 
ligious faith. 

You  have  learned  very  little,  my  friends,  if 
you  have  not  already  learned  that  the  kings  of 
thought — those,  that  is  to  say,  who  reign  by  divine 
right — are  very  different  from  those  who  have 
been  crowned  kings  by  an  undiscriminating  public. 
Real  culture  is  aristocratic ;  and  you  will  naturally 
be  legitimists  in  your  intellectual  partisanships. 
You  will  not  let  Tyndall  speak  as  your  author- 
ity in  physics,  nor  regard  Haeckel  as  infallible  in 
biology,  and  you  will  not  credit  Herbei-t  Spencer 
with  the  omniscience  that  his  ambitious  system 
would  seem  to  imply.  Your  training  has  taught 
you  that  a  man  does  not  acquire  a  right  to  speak 
with  authority  on  all  subjects  because  he  has  made 
one  subject  his  own.     You  know  the  limits  of  de- 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  155 

monstrative  certainty,  and  you  know,  as  the  com- 
mon mind  does  not  know,  that  men  are  makmg 
demands  for  a  kind  and  a  degree  of  proof  for  his- 
toric Christianity  that^  applied  to  other  subjects, 
would  tlirow  the  whole  business  of  investigation 
into  hopeless  bankruptcy.  You  will  not  raise  fool- 
ish questions  regarding  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
entire  text  of  Scripture  when  you  are  told  that  the 
best  manuscripts  do  not  support  the  statement  in 
the  gospel  about  the  angel  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda ; 
for  you  have  no  doubt  about  Virgil's  poem,  though 
the  lines  beginning,  ^^  IlJe  ego  qui  quo7idam/'  etc., 
that  in  the  old  editions  stood  at  the  opening  of  the 
-^neid,  are  now  understood  to  be  spurious.  You 
will  not  wonder  whether  your  New  Testament  is 
the  genuine  product  of  the  writers  whose  names 
are  affixed  to  its  parts,  because  we  have  lost  the 
autograph  copies  and  the  text  has  been  edited  out 
of  manuscripts  of  a  later  day;  for  part  of  your 
education  consists  in  teaching  you  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  transmission  of  ancient  books,  and 
you  are  reading  to-day,  without  a  shadow  of 
doubt  as  to  their  genuineness,  the  love-poems  of 
Catullus  to  Lesbia,  when  we  know  that  our  exist- 
ing text  was  made  out  of  a  single  manuscript  that 
turned  up  in  Verona  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
Differences   of    opinion    among   theologians   and 


156  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

the  rancor  of  theological  debate  will  appear  as 
shallow  arguments  with  you — though  they  are 
sometimes  urged  as  possessing  great  importance 
— against  the  possibility  of  any  knowledge  upon 
the  topics  they  concern )  for  there  is  hardly  a  sub- 
ject in  your  curriculum  that  has  not  had  a  history 
of  conflicting  sentiments  and  that  is  not  at  this 
moment  represented  by  rival  schools. 

I  regard  the  conditions  of  your  training  here  as 
favorable  in  the  highest  degree  to  your  religious 
life.  You  are  receiving  a  discipline  of  your  powers 
that  should  save  you  from  the  sophistries  to  which 
the  uneducated  f  aU  such  easy  victims.  You  are  ac- 
quiring a  knowledge  of  the  great  subjects  of  de- 
bate^  and  an  estimate  of  the  men  who  have  most 
right  to  be  regarded  as  authorities  respecting 
them,  that  will  keep  you  from  calling  any  man 
master  whose  only  claim  to  such  recognition  is  his 
entertaining  declamation.  Besides  that,  you  are 
dealing  with  secular  themes  under  Christian  con- 
ceptions, and  your  attention  is  turned  to  the  spe- 
cific evidences  that  accredit  those  Christian  concep- 
tions. There  is  also  an  undergraduate  sentiment 
represented  by  the  ripest  scholars  and  the  men  of 
highest  intellectual  rank  among  us  that  is  not  only 
favorable  to  Christian  life,  but  also  aggressively 
and  earnestlv  interested  in  Christian  work.     So 


RELIGION  IN  COLLEGE.  157 

that,  if  your  religious  life  is  not  strengthened  and 
stimulated  by  youi*  connection  with  the  coUege, 
the  fault  will  not  be  with  the  college,  but  with  you. 
I  know  that  there  is  a  band  of  Christian  young 
men  in  this  college  who  are  self-denjdng  and  un- 
sparing of  effort  and  pains  in  their  endeavor  to 
bring  religious  motives  to  bear  upon  their  fellow- 
students;  and  I  can  hope  for  nothing  better  for 
some  of  you  than  that  you  may  come  within  the 
scope  of  their  influence.  I  speak  with  due  allow- 
ance for  temptations  that  beset  students  in  every 
college,  but  I  am  nevertheless  of  the  opinion  that 
there  ai*e  no  circumstances  under  which  a  man  is 
so  likely  to  receive  good  impressions,  and  to  be  af- 
fected by  rehgious  influences  that  will  abide  through 
his  whole  Hfe,  as  during  the  four  yeai's  of  a  coUege 
course  in  an  institution  founded,  as  this  is,  upon 
Christian  principles,  and  administered  with  special 
regard  to  the  maintenance  of  vital  piety.  But  I 
must  remind  you  of  the  personal  responsibility 
that  you  should  feel  in  this  matter.  You  can  make 
your  coUege  career  very  much  what  you  choose  to 
make  it.  I  hope  that  it  will  prove  a  blessing  to 
you,  and  that  you  will  go  out  into  the  world  with 
a  larger  equipment  of  both  faith  and  knowledge. 
But  to  secure  this  result  a  great  deal  depends  upon 
yourselves,  and  what  you  will  do  will  be  deter- 


158  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

mined  very  largely  by  the  way  you  begin.  Better 
late  than  never,  is  a  good  motto ;  but — better  not 
be  late.  It  is  better  to  begin  right  than  to  dis- 
cover toward  the  close  of  the  year  that  you  have 
made  a  mistake. 

Let  me  counsel  you,  then,  to  make  your  life  in 
college  a  religious  life;  to  interest  yourselves  in 
religious  matters ;  to  identify  yourselves  with  the 
Christian  elements  in  the  college  that  seek  your  co- 
operation ;  and  to  give  studious  regard  to  the  main- 
tenance of  religious  habits  and  the  fostering  of 
religious  convictions. 

Let  your  religion  control  your  coUege  life,  and 
then  you  may  rest  assured  that  your  college  life 
will  react  in  strengthening,  maturing,  deepening, 
broadening,  and  elevating  your  Christian  faith. 


THE  LETTER  AND  THE  SPIRIT.* 

By  President  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"For  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life." — 2  Cor. 
3:6. 

rpHERE  is  no  doubt,  I  suppose,  that  when  the 
-*-  Apostle  made  use  of  this  familiar  antithe- 
sis he  intended  in  the  first  place  to  distinguish 
between  the  Law  and  the  Gospel;  between  the 
written  code,  with  its  rigid  requirements,  which 
can  only  awaken  a  sense  of  helplessness  and  only 
intensify  the  feeling  of  loss,  and  the  indwelling, 
grace-bestowing,  comfort-giving  Spirit.  But  it  can 
hardly  be  questioned  that  the  words  of  this  verse 
may  be  properly  used  in  a  wider  sense,  and  that 
this  wider  sense  is  at  least  implicitly  recognized  by 
the  Apostle  himself.  I  should  only  be  illustrating 
the  truth  of  the  text  understood  in  this  broader 
sense  were  I  to  insist  upon  a  literalism  of  inter- 
pretation that  would  tolerate  no  appUcation  of  it 
outside  of  the  sphere  within  which  it  was  originally 
employed ;  and  I  think  I  can  better  serve  the  pur- 
pose I  have  in  view  to-day,  and  can  better  adapt 

*  A  baccalaureate  sermon. 
159 


160  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

my  discourse  to  the  circumstances  of  tMs  time  and 
place,  by  taking  advantage  of  some  of  the  more 
obvious  contrasts  which  these  words  are  so  well 
fitted  to  suggest. 

I.  It  is  true  that  the  word  ^lewma  here  has  special 
reference  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  it  also  signifies  the 
human  spirit,  and,  with  the  word  gramma  as  the 
other  term  of  the  antithesis,  I  think  there  is  noth- 
ing violent  or  strained  in  making  the  suggested 
contrast  between  Language  and  Thought  the  first 
topic  for  consideration. 

Thought  and  not  the  mode  of  its  expression, 
mind  and  not  the  drapery  in  which  it  is  enveloped, 
should  be  our  first  concern.  It  is  fatal  to  elevating 
work  to  let  energy  terminate  in  the  letter.  The 
fliTYi  of  the  true  scholar  is  to  go  behind  the  letter 
to  the  spirit.  The  bare  suggestion  of  language  as 
the  means  of  communicating  thought  presents  to 
us  one  of  the  most  wonderful  facts  in  life.  It  is 
the  commonplace,  after  aU,  that  is  the  most  myste- 
rious. Thought  leaps  the  chasm  of  two  separate 
personalities  and  excites  no  wonder.  "We  lay  bare 
the  secrets  of  our  inner  life  to  each  other  and  then 
wondei:  at  actio  in  distans  and  cavil  at  the  possibil- 
ity of  divine  communication.  So  easy  is  it  to  strain 
at  the  gnat  and  swallow  the  camel. 

To  think  and  speak ;  to  have  ideas  and  register 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  161 

them ;  to  make  ourselves  plain ;  to  find  a  common 
measure  of  thought  among  the  many  coins  of 
speech  J  to  converse  with  our  contemporaries  in 
the  morning  newspaper  and  hold  fellowship  with 
the  dead  in  the  books  that  keep  their  memories 
alive — this,  if  we  only  stopped  to  consider  it,  is  the 
marvel  of  existence.  A  mystery,  I  grant,  and  one 
made  no  easier  of  solution  by  the  suicidal  philoso- 
pher who  tries  through  pages  of  labored  excogi- 
tation to  reduce  thought  to  mechanism,  and  then 
sends  his  book  with  his  compliments  to  the  cour- 
teous reader,  in  the  hope  that  he  will  think  that  the 
author  is  a  thinker  of  uncommon  intellect  in  thus 
demonstrating  with  such  convincing  logic,  and  such 
array  of  physiological  testimony,  that  there  is  no 
thought  and  no  thinker  at  aU. 

Thought  is  mind's  protest  against  materialism. 
We  need  no  other.  Language  is  thought's  por- 
trait, the  print  of  thought's  finger.  It  is  easy  to 
see,  therefore,  why  the  study  of  language,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  literature,  should  occupy  a  high 
place  in  the  academic  curriculum.  It  is  of  great 
moment  to  understand  the  forms  of  thought,  to 
follow  its  curves  and  watch  its  subtleties  and  nice- 
ties of  distinction,  as  we  are  able  to  do  after  it  has 
been  hardened  and  colored  in  speech.  You  may 
leani  a  great  deal  of  psychology  from  the  Greek 


162  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

prepositions.  The  subjunctive  mood  will  often 
prove  a  shorter  road  to  the  human  mind  than  the 
psychometric  experiments  of  Fechner  and  Wundt. 
We  may,  however,  make  too  much  of  philology ;  and 
even  though  we  had  to  be  satisfied  with  less  gram- 
mar, I  would  have  more  literature.  Let  us  read 
Milton  rather  than  read  about  him,  and  read  him 
as  we  love  to  read  him  rather  than  at  the  snail's 
pace  indicated  by  Ruskin.  Give  us  the  story  of 
Achilles  in  the  pages  of  Derby  and  Bryant  if  we 
must  choose  between  an  English  translation  and  a 
few  dog's-eared  pages  of  the  Greek  original. 

B^  (5'  aKECJV  TTapa  diva  7ro?iV(f>Xoia(3oLO  OaXdaari^ — 

the  line  is  a  picture ;  the  rhythm  is  exquisite ;  the 
sound  an  echo  of  the  sense.  Give  us  time  to  fol- 
low Chryses  as  he  moves  sadly  along  the  shore,  and 
let  this  vision  of  beauty  excuse  us  from  the  "  prin- 
cipal pai'ts  "  of  iiaivco ;  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the 
spirit  giveth  life.  Translation  is  difficult  work,  as 
we  have  been  so  recently  reminded  by  Mr.  Pater 
and  Mr.  LoweU.  To  do  it  well  requires  that  we 
should  know  the  letter,  but  it  requires  also — what 
is  more  difficult  to  attain — that  we  should  catch  the 
spirit  of  the  author,  that  we  should  see  with  his 
eyes  and  rethink  his  thoughts.  It  is  a  pretty  con- 
ceit of  Marion  Crawford  which  leads  him,  in  one  of 


THE  LETTER  AND    THE  SPIRIT.  163 

his  later  works,  to  represent  Hs  hero  as  taMng  ad- 
vantage of  the  recent  advances  in  electrical  science 
— thereby  removing  the  barriers  that  separate  him 
from  the  unseen  world — and  holding  face-to-face 
fellowship  "  with  the  immortals."  This  is  exactly 
what  a  liberal  education  is  intended  to  do.  This  is 
what  it  has  done  for  you,  if  you  have  improved 
your  opportunities  here,  unless  our  methods  are 
deplorably  bad.  This  is  why  we  learn  Latin  and 
Greek  and  master  the  difficulties  of  vocabulary.  I 
do  not  deny  that  it  is  of  advantage  to  know  the 
laws  of  phonetic  change,  and  that  there  is  intellect- 
ual training  in  the  knowledge  of  word  forms.  But 
when  classical  training  is  useful  only  as  dumb-bells 
and  parallel-bars  are  useful,  it  is  writing  a  com- 
mentary^ on  my  text.  Master  syntax  for  disciplinary 
ends ;  and  master  it  also,  as  Richard  de  Bury  says, 
that  we  may  thereby  open  royal  roads  into  litera- 
ture. But  remember  that  the  thought  is  more  than 
the  word ;  that  at  best  the  word  is  but  a  symbol,  a 
suggestion  of  the  thought,  and  rarely  its  equivalent. 
He  who  reads  literally  reads  poorly.  Even  juris- 
prudence, the  science  that  holds  speech  to  strictest 
account,  admits  that  there  are  times  when  we  must 
not  only  judge  what  a  man  intends  to  say  by  what 
he  says,  but  what  he  says  by  what  he  obviously 
meant  to   say.     H(jeret  in  literd,  Jiceret  in  cortice. 


164  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

There  is  too  little  classical  study  of  the  purely 
literary  kind  among  us.  We  either  know  as  spe- 
ciahsts  and  know  little  else,  or  we  know  practically 
nothing.  And  it  is  probably  hard  to  unite  the 
functions  of  the  general  and  the  special  scholar. 
Few  men  can  expend  energy  on  the  letter  sufficient 
to  write  the  notes  to  Mayor's  "  Juvenal/'  and  then 
write  an  "advertisement"  to  the  volume  that  quiv- 
ers in  every  line  with  sympathetic  interest  in  the 
questions  of  the  day. 

I  say  nothing  regarding  letters  which  is  not  true 
of  science  also.  For  the  facts  which  the  man  of 
science  handles  are  only  the  letters  with  which  he 
is  trying  to  spell  out  the  thought  embodied  in 
them.  He  may  amuse  himself  with  the  shapes  of 
these  letters,  put  them  in  bundles  and  give  them 
names,  but  so  long  as  he  is  simply  engaged  with 
facts  he  is  employed  in  business  no  better  than 
playing  chess  or  solving  puzzles.  It  is  when  he  hits 
upon  some  key  to  Nature's  cipher,  it  is  when  he 
is  using  his  facts  in  verification  of  an  hypothesis 
that  stands  for  thought,  that  he  is  doing  work 
worthy  of  scientific  fame.  Otherwise  he  is  only  a 
census-taker  in  the  kingdom  of  nature ;  a  cata- 
loguer in  the  Hbrary  of  truth,  writing  titles  and 
reading  the  backs  of  books. 

Let  not  the  humanist,  however,  speak  to  the  dis- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  165 

paragement  of  science,  for  if  he  is  only  using  lan- 
guage as  material  for  the  exercise  of  his  own 
thought,  if  the  results  of  his  labors  are  not  the 
basis  of  generalizations  that  stand  for  thought, 
then  he  is  simply  collecting  facts,  gathering  useless 
knowledge,  printing  interminable  masses  of  un- 
readable material.  And  indeed  this,  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, is  the  condition  of  things  to-day.  We  are 
over-specializing ;  and  the  danger  is  that  our  schol- 
ars will  become  simply  operatives  under  a  great 
system  of  contract  labor  5  full  of  opinions  on  sub- 
jects of  which  we  have  no  knowledge,  and  full 
of  knowledge  on  subjects  that  give  no  basis  for 
opinion.  We  are  overwhelmed  with  material,  and 
in  danger  of  being  submerged  in  the  mass  -of  facts 
which  we  cannot  reduce  to  system.  How  often,  as 
we  see  ambition  spurred  to  new  endeavor,  are  we 
reminded  of  these  words  of  the  text:  the  letter 
killeth,  the  spirit  giveth  life. 

Ah,  Science,  you  want  fact !  You  proclaim  the 
sovereignty  of  fact,  the  reign  of  law,  the  almighti- 
ness  of  induction,  the  empire  of  sense.  Your  vo- 
taries have  reduced  history  to  science,  and  philoso- 
phy to  science,  and  religion  to  science,  and  language 
to  science ;  and  when  you  have  done  all,  what  have 
you  gained?  A  mass  of  unorganized  material;  a 
box  of  Chinese  puzzles ;  a  rubbish-heap  of  mono- 


166  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

graphs  on  Greek  adverbs,  Coptic  manuscripts, 
Babylonian  pottery,  the  Pythagorean  theory  of  the 
universe,  and  so  forth,  without  order  and  without 
plan — or  else  there  is  a  thought,  an  idea,  a  general- 
ization behind  it  all.  The  destiny  of  it  all  is  death 
and  the  dunghill,  or  else  there  is  some  informing, 
quickening  idea  to  give  it  shape  and  comeliness. 
Do  your  best :  the  philosopher,  the  apostle  of  the 
idea,  is  needed  to  make  these  dry  bones  live. 

Whose  thought,  then,  lies  behind  this  language 
of  fact?  Is  it  your  subjective  state  that  you  have 
been  imposing  upon  Nature  as  the  law  of  her  op- 
erations when  you  have  formulated  the  doctrine  of 
gravitation  ?  Is  it  your  subjectivity  that  imposes  a 
meaning  upon  "  Hamlet "  and  "  Faust,"  no  thanks  to 
Shakespeare  and  Goethe  ?  WiU  you  split  the  differ- 
ence between  the  two  rival  philosophers  by  an  ar- 
bitrary decision  to  be  objective  in  your  recognition 
of  the  fact,  and  subjective  in  your  explanation  of 
the  fact?  Or  wiU  you  see  behind  the  letter  the 
spirit  ]  behind  the  fact  the  idea  that  gives  meaning 
to  the  fact  and  makes  you  a  sharer  in  the  thought 
of  God  ?  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  man  of  science 
magnifies  his  office  and  feels  proud  of  his  high  call- 
ing. Back  of  the  barriers  of  speech,  indeed,  that 
melt  away  with  our  knowledge  of  a  foreign  tongue, 
stand  "  the  immortals,"  and  we  may  converse  with 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  167 

them  to  our  heart's  content.  But  back  of  the  syl- 
lables of  science,  and  waiting  only  for  the  spirit  of 
reverence  for  its  enjoyment,  lies  fellowship  with  God. 
The  literary  ai-tist  has  recalcitrant  material  to  deal 
with.  With  the  author  thought  is  too  volatile,  and 
with  the  translator  language  is  too  opaque.  So  that 
between  the  incapacity  of  the  containing  vessel  and 
the  chance  of  spilling  in  our  attempts  to  decant  it 
into  another,  we  run  the  risk  of  losing  some  of  the 
wine  of  genius.  This  is  true  of  human  thought; 
how  much  more  true  must  it  be  of  divine  thought. 
We  cannot  give  too  much  attention,  then,  to  the 
very  words  in  which  our  Bible  is  written,  and  the 
more  fully  we  beheve  in  its  inspiration,  the  more 
anxious  we  shall  be  to  have  a  correct  text  and  a 
close  translation.  But  we  may  have  both  and  miss 
the  spirit  of  revelation.  We  may  have  a  bald  lit- 
eralism of  rendering  that  sacrifices  good  English  to 
Greek  idiom,  and  saves  the  letter  at  the  expense  of 
the  spirit.  We  may  load  our  memory  with  ^'  vari- 
ous readings,"  and  be  so  microscopic  in  our  study 
of  the  text  as  to  be  unable  to  see  the  full  contour 
of  a  divine  idea.  We  may  carry  reverence  for  the 
Word  to  the  extent  of  being:  undiscriminatinof  wor- 
shipers  of  words,  and  by  our  unintelligent  literalism 
miss  the  meaning  that  the  words  convey.  When  I 
find  men  treating  metaphor  as  fact  and  reading 


168  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

poetry  as  they  would  construe  an  act  of  Congress, 
seeking  a  spiritual  sense  in  every  commonplace 
expression,  missing  the  point  of  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son  by  asking  who  was  the  "  elder  brother," 
and  invoking  the  joint  assistance  of  chemistry  and 
the  Book  of  Leviticus  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
parable  of  the  leaven,  I  feel  that  Matthew  Arnold, 
with  all  his  faults,  at  least  deserves  credit  for  re- 
minding us  that  the  Bible  is  to  be  treated  as  litera- 
ture. But  we  must  go  further  before  we  can  be 
said  to  have  passed  beyond  the  letter  in  our  study 
of  Scripture.  For  though  as  literature  it  may  be 
read  with  due  regard  to  the  historical  conditions 
under  which  it  was  produced,  with  proper  attention 
to  differences  of  style  and  form  of  composition,  we 
have  not  read  it  as  we  should  when  we  have  mas- 
tered its  geographical  details,  studied  its  archaeology, 
learned  to  prize  the  beauties  of  Isaiah  and  Job,  or 
appreciate  the  high  moral  level  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  To  regard  the  Bible  simply  as  litera^ 
tore  provokes  in  me  a  feeling  akin  to  that  which  I 
have  for  the  system  once  in  vogue  of  making  the 
Gospel  of  John  an  easy  introduction  to  the  study 
of  Greek.  We  degi-ade  the  book  by  teaching  it 
under  false  pretenses.  We  dishonor  truth  when 
we  teach  it  with  a  sxippressio  veri.  I  am  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  the  idea  that  the  Bible — the  English 


THE  LETTER   AND   THE  SPIRIT  169 

Bible,  if  you  like  that  way  of  describing  it  better — 
should  have  a  place  in  the  college  curriculum ;  but 
I  want  it  understood  that  it  is  to  be  taught  with 
distinct  regard  to  its  divine  authority  and  the  great 
doctrines  of  redemption  that  it  contains. 

You  have  made  but  a  poor  use  of  your  facilities 
here,  my  friends,  if  you  are  not  able  to  make  the 
distinction  I  have  named.  This  indeed  is  no  small 
part  of  education.  We  have  tried  to  train  you  so 
as  to  bring  you  under  the  power  of  ideas.  We  have 
aimed  to  educate  you  so  that  you  may  become 
scholars,  and  not  pedants;  jurists,  and  not  petti- 
foggers ;  men  of  science,  and  not  the  bottle-washers 
of  a  laboratory ;  theologians,  and  not  textualists ; 
religious  men  who  think  again  through  God's 
Word  the  thoughts  of  God,  and  not  dealers  in  cant 
phrases  or  slaves  of  a  stupid  literalism. 

II.  The  same  antithesis  with  which  we  are  dealing 
may  serve  also  to  stand  for  the  contrast  between 
the  accidental  and  the  essential  in  matters  of  liter- 
ary judgment  and  of  religious  opinions.  Print 
does  not  discriminate.  Even  punctuation  is  a  mod- 
ern device,  and  jurisprudence  disdains  it  to  this 
day.  It  gives  no  weight  to  the  commas  and  semi- 
colons with  which  we  sprinkle  our  pages,  sometimes 
in  default  of  a  clear  style  or  a  correct  syntax.  It 
allows  no  ^^llgar  italics  to  lend  artificial  emphasis 


170  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

to  what  is  written,  but  leaves  the  thought  to  make 
its  way  to  the  mind  with  no  other  presupposition 
than  the  intelligence  of  the  reader.  This  is  indeed 
often  a  large  demand,  but  there  seems  to  be  as  yet 
no  sufficient  substitute  for  brains ;  and  to  one  nor- 
mally furnished  in  this  regard  it  is  a  self-evident 
proposition  that,  though  the  printed  word  does  not 
say  so,  all  thoughts  are  not  of  equal  value  nor  wor- 
thy of  the  same  emphasis.  No  obhgation  rests 
upon  us,  for  instance,  to  treat  all  the  poet's  verse 
as  of  equal  beauty  and  force  because  he  has  not 
seen  fit  to  show  any  favoritism  to  the  children  of 
his  brain.  It  is  not  our  fault  that  there  are  only 
three  lines  worth  remembering  in  Wordsworth^s 
''  Peter  Bell."  All  that  is  said  is  not  worth  repeat- 
ing. All  human  deeds  are  not  worth  recording. 
Worthless  when  new,  they  do  not  gain  importance 
with  the  lapse  of  time.  The  phonograph  that  lis- 
tens to-day  and  reproduces  the  nonsense  of  conver- 
sation a  hundred  years  hence  will  amuse,  but  it  will 
not  edify.  It  occurs  to  me  to  say  this  when  I  con- 
sider the  prevalent  mania  for  original  research. 
Just  now  it  is  affecting  historians  and  men  of  let- 
ters. You  may  know  history — ^you  may  have  your 
Gibbon,  your  HaUam,  and  your  Freeman  at  your 
fingers'  ends — but  you  are  no  historian  unless  you 
have  studied  the  sources.     If,  however,  you  have 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  171 

discovered  a  manuscript  that  will  add  a  new  chap- 
ter to  the  life  of  some  tenth-rate  Cavalier  or  Round- 
head, if  you  can  come  forth  from  your  labors  with 
the  dust  of  an  old  library  on  your  fingers,  you  have 
earned  the  title  to  fame.  But  why?  Why  dis- 
criminate thus  against  the  man  who  knows  much 
in  favor  of  him  who  produces  little  ?  Do  I  deny 
that  your  work  is  good  ?  By  no  means.  That  you 
have  brought  something  new  to  light,  and  so  have 
made  a  contribution  to  knowledge  ?  No.  Or  that 
your  work  has  given  you  good  training  in  the  use 
of  tools  ?  No.  Nor  would  I  deny  that  it  is  a  useful 
thing  for  our  young  civil  engineers  to  survey  the 
college  campus  every  year,  or  measui-e  the  Brook- 
lyn Bridge.  I  am  only  thinking  that  you  lack  per- 
spective )  that  you  are  mistaking  pains  and  trouble 
and  a  monopoly  of  useless  information  for  history ; 
that  3^ou  ai-e  in  danger  of  putting  all  facts  upon 
the  same  level  and  of  ranking  the  genealog}^  of  a 
Mayflower  family  with  the  Norman  Conquest.  You 
are  deceived  by  the  letter  and  miss  the  spirit.  You 
have  adopted  Gradgi^ind's  philosophy.  The  demand 
is  for  facts,  and  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  in  the  ex- 
amination paper  Oklahoma  counts  for  as  much  as 
Thermopylas,  and  the  date  of  the  last  constitutional 
amendment  is  thought  to  have  as  good  a  right  to  a 
vacant  memory  cell  as  a.d.  1453  or  1688. 


172  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

We  read  books  and  study  the  history  of  opinion 
often  with  the  same  disregard  of  proportion — re- 
membering what  we  ought  to  forget  and  forgetting 
what  we  ought  to  remember  5  making  no  allowance 
for  circumstances,  and  giving  the  same  value  to 
obiter  dicta  that  we  accord  to  reasoned  opinions. 
Find  Calvin  tripping  in  a  casual  remark,  then  vilify 
his  system :  this  is  what  men  do.  Or  because  one 
calls  himself  a  disciple  of  Augustine,  hold  him  re- 
sponsible for  all  that  Augustine  taught,  as  though 
one  must  beheve  in  the  virtues  of  tar- water  because 
he  is  a  Berkleyan. 

Uneducated  men,  perhaps,  find  it  hard  to  make 
the  distinctions  between  essence  and  accident  here 
referred  to.  All  statements  appear  to  them  like 
items  on  a  ledger  to  be  reckoned  in  the  same  way. 
But  educated  men  ought  to  know  better.  They 
ought  to  know  that  a  man  can  be  a  Lutheran  with- 
out believing  all  that  Luther  believed,  or  accept  the 
Hegehan  conception  of  the  universe  without  sympa- 
thizing in  detail  with  Hegel's  peculiar  views.  It 
ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  understand  that  a  creed 
statement  may  be  accurate  in  doctrinal  content 
though  colored  by  the  time  in  which  it  was  written, 
and  dealing  with  conditions  of  thought  that  no 
longer  exist.  And  it  must  also  be  evident  that  it 
would  be  hard  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  anachro- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  173 

nism  if  we  undertook  to  weave  the  thoughts  of  this 
generation  into  a  document  that  on  its  title-page 
purports  to  have  been  written  two  hundi'ed  and  fifty 
years  ago.  A  little  exercise  of  judgment,  however, 
a  little  effort  to  distinguish  between  essence  and 
accident,  abiding  fact  and  accidental  setting — in 
short,  to  read  the  spirit  in  the  letter  would  save  all 
the  trouble. 

We  may  as  well  learn  to  exercise  this  power 
of  judgment  on  the  creeds,  for  we  shall  have  to 
exercise  it  on  the  Scriptures.  All  Scripture  is  in- 
spired, but  it  does  not  all  possess  the  same  rehg- 
ious  value.  All  Scripture  is  truth,  but  all  Script- 
ural truth  is  not  of  equal  importance.  Essential 
to  the  organic  structure  of  the  Bible  all  of  it  un- 
doubtedly is,  but  not  equally  essential  to  spiritual 
life  and  religious  education.  When  men  say  they 
wish  the  Bible  to  be  taught  without  doctrine,  I  reply 
that  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  more  important 
than  much  of  the  Bible  itself.  The  sense  of  Script- 
m'e  is  the  Scripture,  and  rather  than  miss  the  sense 
we  could  afford  to  do  without  certain  forms  of  Bible 
knowledge.  There  is  in  the  Bible,  as  in  other  hter- 
ature,  what  may  be  called  the  essential  and  the  acci- 
dental, and  it  is  an  act  of  intelligence  to  distinguish 
between  them.  I  read  the  Cosmogony  and  get  out 
of  it  the  doctrine  of  creation,  the  ascent  of  life,  the 


174  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

supremacy  of  man  and  his  primeval  purity.  I  am 
willing  to  fill  up  the  great  categories  of  Genesis 
with  the  help  of  science,  and  so  make  the  general- 
izations that  follow  the  study  of  one  of  God's  books 
help  in  the  interpretation  of  the  other.  I  read  in 
the  words  of  the  Saviour  the  generic  ideas  that 
should  control  social  existence  and  the  great  prin- 
ciples that  should  guide  conduct,  but  I  do  not  sup- 
pose that  the  illustration  of  a  principle  should  be 
construed  with  hteral  exactness.  I  do  not  expect 
to  handle  venomous  reptiles  with  impunity.  I  do 
not  expect  faith  to  supersede  medical  treatment  or 
cure  organic  disease  5  and  I  do  not  find  either  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  or  in  the  apostolic  com- 
munity of  goods  an  argument  for  socialism  and  the 
denial  of  the  rights  of  property.  I  believe  that 
Paul  was  inculcating  an  important  principle  when 
he  discouraged  the  appearance  of  Christians  as 
litigants  in  heathen  courts;  but  I  would  not  on 
that  account  conclude  that  aU  litigation  is  sin,  and 
that  the  legal  profession  is  incompatible  with  Chris- 
tianity. To  be  sure  the  distinction  between  essence 
and  accident  involves  serious  responsibility,  for  in 
attempting  to  make  it  we  may  err.  I  am  sure  that 
Arnold  erred  and  that  his  literary  judgment  was 
warped  by  his  prejudices  when  he  made  ethics  the 
main  thing  in  Scripture  and  represented  the  dog- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  175 

mas  of  Christianity  as  the  accidents  of  PauHne 
teaching.  For  what  is  the  Bible?  What  is  the 
evolution  of  Biblical  ideas  but  the  growth  of  a  few 
great  dogmatic  conceptions  ?  The  essence  of  Script- 
ure, the  core  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New, 
is  the  doctrine  that  without  the  shedding  of  blood 
there  is  no  remission  of  sins,  and  that  God  was  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  im- 
puting unto  men  their  trespasses.  It  is  the  divine 
purpose  that  brings  the  Bible  into  line  with  the 
facts  of  the  material  world.  It  is  the  Incarnation 
that  gives  organic  character  to  Scripture.  It  is 
human  guilt  that  constitutes  the  great  presupposi- 
tion of  Revelation.  It  is  the  doctrine  of  faith  as 
man's  response  to  the  overtures  of  love  that  meets 
the  exigencies  of  man's  moral  nature  and  makes 
the  Bible  the  best  and  greatest  message  that  man 
ever  had.  Why,  then,  do  men  teU  me  that  they 
wish  the  Bible  taught  religiously  but  not  doctri- 
naUy  ?  Why  do  educated  men  who  have  been  taught 
to  distinguish  between  the  letter  and  the  spirit  show 
such  proneness  to  mistake  when  they  touch  relig- 
ious themes?  Yet  the  world  is  fuU  of  men  who 
speak  in  this  way.  These  are  the  men  who  stand 
in  our  pulpits  and  preach  on  the  patience  of  Job 
and  the  moral  courage  of  Daniel ;  who  find  material 
for  sentimental  sermons  in  the  seasons,  and  enter- 


176  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

taining  sermons  in  the  social  follies  of  the  day,  and 
practical  sermons  in  the  importance  of  sleep  or  the 
need  of  restricting  immigration,  but  who  are  silent 
respecting  the  tremendous  fact  of  sin  and  the  dog- 
matic significance  of  atoning  blood.  I  do  not  say 
that  such  men  are  handling  the  Word  of  God 
deceitfully,  for  I  am  willing  to  have  them  plead 
guilty,  if  they  prefer,  to  an  unscholarly  stupidity 
that  prevents  them  from  seeing  that  the  bleeding 
Christ  is  the  central  fact  of  Scripture. 

Let  me  beg  you,  gentlemen,  to  heed  this  lesson  of 
the  text.  Cultivate  a  wise  discrimination.  Read  the 
best  books.  Seize  upon  master  thoughts.  Get  hold 
of  the  big  end  of  the  questions  that  invite  your  scru- 
tiny. Distinguish  between  what  is  vital  and  what 
is  of  no  importance.  Gamer  the  wheat;  let  the 
chaff  go.  Rest  your  opinions  on  broad  and  deep 
rational  foundations.  Follow  this  method  in  re- 
ligion. A  few  principles,  a  few  facts,  carry  the 
whole  fabric  of  Christianity.  Follow  the  great 
trend  of  evidence,  and  do  not  halt  for  minor  diffi- 
culties. Let  the  great  outlying  facts  of  Christianity 
determine  your  faith,  and  do  not  let  trifles  feed 
your  doubt.  You  are  sticking  in  the  bark,  you 
may  be  sure,  when  you  let  a  textual  difficulty,  or 
an  historical  discrepancy,  or  a  hard  question  in 
ethics,  or  a  dogmatic  mystery,  hinder  your  accept- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  Ill 

ance  of  the  historic  Christ  as  the  Savioui*  of  the 
world. 

III.  I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  another 
distinction  suggested  by  the  text.  It  is  difficult  to 
resist  the  feeling  that  there  was  in  Paul's  mind  the 
contrast  between  the  rigid  fixity  of  the  letter  on  the 
one  hand  and  the  plastic  spontaneity  of  the  spirit 
on  the  other.  Litera  scripta  manet.  The  written 
word  does  not  change.  But  the  living  organism  is 
constantly  adjusting  itself  to  new  conditions,  and 
changing  to  suit  them.  We  have  then  the  fixed 
and  the  variable,  unbending  law  and  changing  life. 
The  history  of  the  world,  of  society,  of  religious 
opinion,  is  to  a  large  extent  the  history  of  these 
two  factors  in  their  relations  to  each  other.  The 
legal  code  becomes  too  narrow  to  suit  the  exigencies 
of  an  expanding  life,  and  it  changes  in  fact  but  not 
in  form.  The  needed  work  is  done,  but  the  forms 
of  law  are  saved  by  legal  fiction.  TJhi  jus  iU  re- 
medium 'j  but  there  is  no  remedy  at  common  law, 
and  equity  finds  one  through  the  edict  of  the  prgetor 
or  the  decisions  of  the  chancellor.  We  have  a  writ- 
ten constitution  as  the  basis  of  government,  and  the 
powers  of  the  coordinate  branches  of  government 
are  defined.  But  time  develops  the  old  conflict 
between  the  unyielding  law  and  the  li%ing  organ- 
ism, with  the  odds,  as  Professor  Wilson  shows,  in 


178  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

favor  of  the  organism.  We  formulate  om*  faith  in 
creed  statements,  and  after  a  century  or  two  find 
that  the  Church  and  the  creed  are  not  in  exact  ac- 
cord. There  is  nothing  to  wonder  at.  It  is  the  old 
question  of  the  letter  and  the  spirit.  The  letter  has 
controlled  the  life.  It  has  given  the  law  to  its  varia- 
tions. Pohtical  development  in  this  land  will  fol- 
low the  Lines  of  the  Constitution.  Theological  de- 
velopment will  foUow  the  lines  of  the  creed  that 
controls  it.  Unless  the  letter  goes  into  the  life  of 
the  organism  it  wiU  become  a  dead  letter  j  and  if  it 
goes  into  it,  it  wiU  be  modified  and  colored  by  cir- 
cumstances of  time  and  place. 

Now  this  question  of  the  fixed  and  the  variable  is 
a  much  larger  one  than  that  of  creed  revision.  It  is 
at  the  root  of  nearly  aU  the  great  questions  of  to-day. 
Men  are  realizing  as  never  before  the  solidarity  of 
mankind.  The  old  Pelagian  conception  of  individu- 
ahsm  is  abandoned  and  there  is  a  tendency  to  go  to 
the  opposite  extreme.  Individual  opinion  is  hushed 
in  the  presence  of  advancing  waves  and  irresistible 
movements,  as  they  are  caUed,  and  we  are  warned 
against  the  foUy  of  trying  to  stop  the  rising  tide. 
In  the  case  of  very  advanced  thinkers  this  worship 
of  the  Zeitgeist  is  associated  with  the  denial  of  all 
a  priori  ideas.  Standards  of  measurement  there  are 
none.    The  movement  is  recognized,  but  there  is 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  179 

no  criterion  by  which  to  judge  it,  and  the  ideas  that 
limit  it  and  give  it  shape  are  ignored.  Men  say 
we  must  study  the  facts  in  an  historical  spirit  and 
gather  oui-  induction  out  of  what  we  see.  The 
science  of  ethics  becomes  the  science  of  what  is, 
rather  than  of  what  ought  to  be,  and  if  a  doctrine 
of  right  survives  at  all,  it  is  the  doctrine  that  what- 
ever is  is  right. 

In  the  name  of  reason  I  protest  against  this 
tendency  of  thought.  As  a  sovereign  thinker  with- 
in the  realm  of  my  own  acti\dties,  I  refuse  to 
abdicate  under  the  terrorism  of  popular  sentiment. 
I  refuse  to  say  that  because  the  avalanche  is  irre- 
sistible, therefore  it  is  right.  I  refuse  to  drown 
my  reason  in  a  tidal  wave.  And  when  any  idea 
in  philosophy  or  politics  or  theology  is  ^^in  the 
air,"  I  claim  the  right  to  examine  its  creden- 
tials and  scrutinize  its  claims  before  I  give  it  my 
acceptance.  Historic  movements,  as  well  as  the 
actions  of  individual  men,  must  be  judged  by  fixed 
principles.  It  is  easy,  then,  for  me  to  define  my 
position  in  regard  to  what  is  called  progressive 
theology.  WiU  you  tie  the  Church  to  the  letter  or 
give  her  the  free  life  of  the  spirit  ?  How  will  you 
adjust  the  relations  between  the  letter  and  the 
spirit ;  the  Church  and  the  creed ;  the  organism  and 
the  law  of  its  development  ?   According  to  Schleier- 


180  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

macher,  the  New  Testament  is  only  the  recorded 
religious  experience  of  the  apostolic  age,  genetic- 
ally related  to  the  ages  following,  but  giving  no 
rubric  and  imposing  no  law\  It  follows,  then, 
that  there  is  no  standard  of  faith,  that  truth  is 
relative,  and  that  the  Christian  organism  is  a  law 
unto  itself.  The  Roman  Catholic,  again,  says  that 
the  organism  is  infallible  and  can  speak  in  the 
present  t^nse.  It  is  not  necessary^,  therefore,  to 
beheve  that  all  divine  revelation  is  contained  in 
the  Bible.  Transubstantiation  came  by  way  of 
doctrinal  evolution  with  the  second  council  of 
Nice,  and  papal  infallibility  within  the  present 
generation.  The  doctrine  of  evolution  applied  to 
theology  by  Cardinal  Newman  helps  Rome  to  ad- 
just the  relation  between  the  fixed  and  the  vari- 
able. Protestants,  however,  have  the  written  word 
as  their  only  rule  of  faith.  Changing  taste  cannot 
obliterate  its  doctrines.  Organic  drifts  cannot 
vacate  words  of  their  historic  sense.  We  cannot 
eliminate  doctrines  because  we  do  not  like  them, 
or  insert  new  ones  because  popular  sentiment 
caUs  for  them.  What  is  written  is  written.  The 
Clu-istian  consciousness  can  no  more  change  the 
meaning  of  a  Greek  word  than  it  can  upset  the 
multiplication  table.  There  is  no  legal  fiction  that 
can  modify^  or  change  the  Word  of  God.     When 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  181 

men  say,  as  in  effect  they  do,  that  the  old  concep- 
tion of  a  sovereign  God  does  not  suit  our  repub- 
lican ideas,  they  only  blaspheme.  And  when  by- 
and-by  they  will  seek  to  dethrone  him  and  plainly 
say  that  each  generation  must  elect  its  own  Ruler 
and  dictate  his  administrative  policy,  they  will  only 
carry  to  their  logical  consequences  some  of  the  prev- 
alent ideas  of  to-day. 

I  do  not  deny,  however,  that  important  truth  is 
hinted  at  in  the  doctrine  known  as  the  Christian 
Consciousness.  I  am  no  advocate  of  ecclesiastical 
immobility.  The  Christian  Church  is  not  an  exact 
copy  in  mode  of  worship,  methods  of  administration, 
and  form  of  government  of  the  Church  of  the  New 
Testament.  We  have  discontinued  the  holy  kiss^ 
and  feet  washing  is  no  part  of  Christian  hospitality. 
We  have  salaried  ministers  and  surphced  choirs, 
neither  being  known  to  the  Apostolic  Church.  We 
have  tried  to  foster  the  apostolic  spii'it  and  perpetu- 
ate apostolic  ideas,  but  the  Church  has  altered  her 
mode  of  life  and  work  to  suit  altered  conditions 
of  society.  Paul  said  that  under  certain  circum- 
stances he  would  refuse  the  meat  offered  in  sacri- 
fice to  idols,  and  would  not  drink  wine  that  had 
any  idolatrous  associations.  Interpret  him  liter- 
ally and  his  words  have  no  application  to  modern 
life,  for  the  conditions  that  controlled  his  decision 


182  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

no  longer  exist.  '  Change  his  decision  into  a  man- 
date of  abstinence  and  at  once  you  tyrannize  over 
the  conscience  and  rob  the  act  of  abstinence  of  all 
ethical  significance.  Generalize  the  statement,  how- 
ever, and  yon  have  the  great  law  of  altruistic  mo- 
rality which,  after  all  abatements  for  selfishness 
have  been  made,  is  the  most  potent  factor  in  our 
practical  life. 

And  so  with  doctrine.  The  dogmas  of  Chris- 
tianity are  fixed.  The  Bible  does  not  change  and 
we  have  no  extra-biblical  revelation.  But  a  dog- 
ma that  is  only  read  in  the  Bible  or  stated  and 
subscribed  to  in  a  creed  is  only  a  dead  letter.  It 
must  go  into  oui*  life  and  be  part  of  our  intel- 
lectual and  moral  experience.  But  going  into  our 
individual  and  our  organic  life  it  adjusts  itself 
to  changing  conditions,  although  unchanged  itself. 
It  win  be  read  with  a  different  emphasis  in  differ- 
ent periods ;  it  wiU  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of 
the  burning  questions  of  those  periods ;  it  will  be 
brought  into  relation  with  science  and  philosophy, 
and  acquire  fresh  interest  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration from  the  new  polemic  conditions  that  are 
constantly  emerging.  Paul's  vocabulary  was  af- 
fected by  his  contact  with  philosophy.  Ours  wiU 
be.  The  attempt  to  eliminate  philosophy  from 
theology  is  a  vain  attempt.     The  two  departments 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT  183 

deal  largely  with  the  same  subjects  and  cover 
common  gi-ound.  All  the  material,  whatever  be 
its  source,  whatever  be  its  authorit}^,  that  goes  to 
make  our  theory  of  the  universe  must  pass  into 
our  Hf  e  and  bear  the  impress  of  our  thought ;  and 
as  we  think  in  philosophy  so  we  shall  be  compelled 
to  think  in  theology.  We  handle  the  same  ques- 
tions regarding  God,  freedom,  and  immoi-tality 
that  Paul  did,  that  Augustine  did,  that  Thomas 
Aquinas  did,  that  Calvin  did;  and  though  the 
Scriptures  have  not  changed,  and  our  reading  of 
them,  so  far  as  these  topics  are  concerned,  is  not 
materially  different  from  that  of  the  men  that 
have  been  named,  we  see  the  same  truth  under 
different  conditions.  Our  heretics  are  not  Cerin- 
thus  and  Celsus,  but  Spencer  and  Kuenen.  Our 
foe  is  not  credulity,  but  agnosticism.  And  as 
conditions  change,  our  mode  of  presenting  the 
unchangeable  truth  must  also  change.  Remem- 
ber, however,  that  if  the  letter  without  the  life  is 
dead,  the  life  needs  the  letter  to  give  law  to  its 
movement.  Do  not  be  deceived  by  the  cry  that 
the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God.  Do 
not  hastily  assume  that  every  great  movement  is 
an  inspired  movement.  We  have  no  personal 
infallibility.  We  believe  in  no  corporate  infalli- 
bility.   We  have  no  faith  in  the  inspiration  of 


184  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

large  masses  of  men.  When,  therefore,  under  the 
influence  of  those  who  would  have  us  put  our 
faith  in  the  organism  rather  than  tie  it  to  the 
written  word,  we  begin  to  lose  faith  in  the  author- 
ity of  Scripture,  we  give  up  our  only  basis  of 
Christian  certitude. 

lY.  The  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  giveth  life.  Out- 
ward rule  and  inward  principle  are  the  two  great 
agencies  that  operate  on  human  conduct,  and  they 
seem  contrasted  in  the  text.  There  is  the  inner 
principle  in  bent  of  inclination  and  dominant  pur- 
pose seeking  expression  in  our  spontaneities ;  and 
here  is  the  objective  code  by  which  we  seek  to 
guide  our  life,  and  which  is  put  before  us  as  an 
instructive  and  restraining  influence.  The  world, 
says  Mr.  Lecky,  is  governed  by  its  ideals.  It  is 
what  we  love  to  do  that  we  do  well.  By  help  of 
rule  alone  men  write  no  books  and  paint  no  pict- 
ures that  wear  the  stamp  of  genius.  They  per- 
form no  acts  of  heroism  in  grudging  compliance 
with  law ;  they  shine  in  none  of  the  beauties  of 
high  and  holy  character  when  they  have  simply 
schooled  themselves  to  follow  another's  will.  Work 
done  in  conformity  with  rule  is  drudgery  and  a 
weariness  of  the  flesh.  There  is  the  morality  of 
principle  and  the  morality  of  outward  conformity. 

That  there  is  a  place  for  the  morality  of  ex- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  185 

ternalism  and  precept,  of  law  and  obedience  to 
command,  I  do  not  doubt,  yet  I  sometimes  tliink 
that  life  is  made  more  burdensome  than  it  need 
be,  and  that  we  hinder  rather  than  help  the 
higher  interests  of  morality  by  the  excessive  mul- 
tiplication of  rules.  The  State  goes  as  far  as  it 
ought  in  encroaching  upon  the  freedom  of  the 
individual ;  the  Church  is  taking  liberties  with  the 
rights  of  conscience  in  saying  that  its  members 
shaU  do  this  and  shall  not  do  that.  We  go  to  col- 
lege and  a  code  of  instructions  is  the  first  lesson 
we  are  required  to  learn.  We  enter  business  and 
we  find  ourselves  girt  about  by  rule.  We  are 
more  unwilling  every  day  to  assume  that  men  will 
act  right  from  principle,  and  more  disposed  to 
think  that  they  love  to  do  wrong.  Wholesale 
suspicion  is  the  law  of  society.  We  are  multiply- 
ing the  machinery  of  detection.  We  cr^^.  Who 
will  keep  the  keepers  ?  We  are  insuring  ourselves 
at  increasing  cost  against  the  dishonesty  of  those 
whom  we  have  trusted.  We  watch  the  clerk  at 
his  desk  and  the  student  in  his  examination.  We 
put  a  beU-punch  in  the  hands  of  the  conductor  and 
set  traps  for  the  night  watchman.  In  forms  more 
or  less  visible  and  in  ways  more  or  less  irritating 
to  the  feelings,  we  proclaim  our  inabiUty  to  trust 
men  and  our  conviction  that  all  men  are  liars. 


186  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

Necessary  all  this  may  be  for  protection,  thougli 
I  still  believe  that  we  owe  more  to  conscience 
than  to  all  our  complicated  machinery  of  police. 
But  the  trouble  is  that  men  suppose  that  all  this 
is  moral  education.  There  is  an  impression  that 
you  make  men  moral  when  you  make  them  fear 
to  do  wrong,  and  that  by  repressing  wrong-doing 
you  are  elevating  character.  Make  wrong-doing 
so  difficult  that  right-doing  will  be  easier  and  it 
is  thought  you  will  make  men  moral.  And  un- 
doubtedly a  great  deal  of  the  world's  morality 
is  of  this  sort.  A  man  obeys  the  law  because 
he  fears  the  penalty.  He  will  lose  his  place,  or 
incur  the  odium  of  society,  or  be  visited  with 
social  ostracism,  or  miss  his  diploma,  and  there- 
fore he  wiU  do  as  he  is  told.  And  there  are  good 
men  who  fail  to  see  that  there  is  no  morality  in 
this.  Not  only  do  they  fail  to  see  it,  but  the 
opinion  seems  to  be  gaining  ground  that  we  can 
build  up  character  by  this  system  of  externahsms. 
Men  not  only  obey  laws  imposed  by  society  for  its 
own  protection,  but  they  take  pledges,  make  prom- 
ises, multiply  vows  for  their  own  edification,  and 
in  place  of  the  freedom  of  the  spirit  they  are  going 
back  to  the  legalism  of  an  older  dispensation,  are 
rejoicing  in  the  bondage  of  the  letter. 

They  should  know,  however,  that  enforced  obedi- 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  187 

euce  is  not  moral  education.  Character  is  an  en- 
dogenous plant  and  grows  from  within.  IVIilitary 
training  teaches  men  to  obey  law,  but  it  does  not 
teach  them  to  love  it.  Deserters  ai-e  shot ;  so  the 
soldier  does  not  desert.  That  is  all.  Kant  is  right. 
The  law  that  comes  from  without  is  not  ethical. 
There  is  no  morality  in  doing  right  through  calcu- 
lation of  consequences.  Hence  only  self-legislated 
law  is  moral.  Though  it  be  God's  law,  it  must  be 
autonomous  before  it  is  ethical.  It  must  address 
the  conscience  and  be  approved  as  good.  It  must 
become  a  maxim  of  reason  and  not  a  mere  com- 
mand. For  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  Spirit 
giveth  life.  The  State,  of  course,  must  protect 
itself,  and  its  main  end  is  therefore  not  moral 
education.  This  must  be  left  to  the  Church.  But 
what  is  to  be  our  aim  in  the  administration  of  a 
coUege  ?  Shall  we  consider  the  good  order  of  the 
organization,  or  the  moral  improvement  of  the 
student  f  It  might  be  easy  to  do  either ;  it  may  be 
hard  to  combine  the  twoj  but  we  must  combine 
them.  There  must  be  rules,  but  they  should  be 
few,  and  the  application  of  them  should  address  the 
conscience.  We  must  prepare  men  for  the  fran- 
chises which  they  are  so  soon  to  inherit,  by  respect- 
ing their  manhood  and  avoiding  aU  petty  legisla- 
tion.    We  must  protect  the  organism  and  at  the 


188  PRESIDENT  P  ATT  ON. 

same  time  labor  for  the  good  of  the  individual. 
We  must  hold  law  subservient  to  the  end  for  which 
it  is  enacted  and  bend  the  rule  if  it  be  necessary  in 
order  to  save  the  man.  We  must  consider,  it  is 
true,  the  welfare  of  the  mass,  but  we  must  some- 
times, if  need  be,  leave  the  ninety-and-nine,  and 
care  for  the  one  who  has  gone  astray. 

The  college  student  is  ingenuous,  as  a  rule.  He 
makes  mistakes  and  falls  into  mischief  or  sin.  But 
the  case  is  rare  when  you  do  not  find  something  in 
him  that  draws  you  to  him.  He  is  frank.  He 
will  admit  that  he  has  abused  kindness,  trifled  with 
good-nature,  and  acted  meanly.  He  is  sorry  that 
he  did  so,  and  his  chmax  of  regret  is  generally  the 
thought  of  his  mothei*'s  anguish  and  his  father's 
sorrow.  I  have  a  large  place  in  my  heart  for  the 
man  who  is  capable  of  this  filial  love.  But,  my 
brother,  you  must  stand  on  higher  ground  than 
this.  You  are  going  out  to  face  the  temptations  of 
the  world.  You  will  be  confronted  with  the  lust 
of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of 
life.  It  is  not  enough  that  you  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  outward  law.  You  should  make 
it  an  inner  principle.  It  is  not  enough  that  wrong 
conduct  be  avoided  because  it  is  dishonorable  and 
will  bring  disgrace.  Learn  to  avoid  it  because  it 
is  wrong.     Learn  to  do  right  because  it  is  right. 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  189 

Learn  to  feel  the  sanctions  of  a  higher  morality; 
and  when  your  evil-doing  fills  you  with  regret  let 
it  be  because  you  have  sinned  against  God  and  put 
a  stain  upon  your  soul. 

V.  And  now,  gentlemen  of  the  gi^aduating  class, 
let  me  say  a  single  closing  word.  This  week  marks 
an  important  era  in  the  calendar  of  yom*  life.  It 
means  the  severance  of  old  ties ;  the  full  assump- 
tion of  personal  responsibility,  and  the  facing  of 
the  futm-e.  We  have  tried  hard  to  fit  you  for  the 
work  of  life.  We  have  not  done  what  we  might 
have  done,-  partly  perhaps  through  our  neglect, 
partly  also  thi-ough  your  neglect.  But  to  some  ex- 
tent in  all  of  you,  I  trust,  and  to  a  large  extent  in 
most  of  you,  I  know,  our  aim  has  been  realized.  In 
sending  you  out  into  the  world  we  are  making  a 
contribution  to  its  working  force  of  which  we  have 
no  reason  to  be  ashamed.  We  have  tried  to  make 
the  education  we  have  given  you  a  commentaiy 
upon  the  words  that  I  have  chosen  for  my  text. 
We  have  tried  to  foster  in  you  high  ideals  in  liter- 
ature and  high  aims  in  science.  We  have  tried  to 
discipline  your  powers  so  that  you  will  see  the 
parts  of  truth  in  their  proper  relations  to  each 
other  and  in  just  proportion.  We  have  tried  to 
show  that  the  unchanging  Word  of  God  is  not  a 
fossil  to  be  laid  upon  the  shelf,  but  the  direct- 


190  PRESIDENT  PATTON. 

ing  principle  of  the  life^  the  inspiration  of  its 
movement,  and  the  law  of  its  variation.  We  have 
tried  to  teach  you  also  that  the  essence  of  all 
moraUty  is  a  self-enunciated  law  of  obhgation, 
commanding  without  condition  and  despising  cal- 
culation. 

And  we  have  not  forgotten  in  the  services  of  this 
sanctuary  that  the  contrast  between  the  letter  and 
the  spirit  bears  witness  also  to  another  contrast 
between  Law  and  Gospel,  to  which  reference  was 
made  in  the  beginning  of  this  discourse.  The 
Apostle  did  not  mean  to  disparage  the  Law  when 
he  contrasted  it  with  the  Gospel.  The  Gospel  did 
not  supersede  the  Law,  it  only  supplemented  it. 
The  Law  is  holy,  just,  and  good.  It  came  from 
God,  and  is  the  expression  of  his  will.  It  is  perfect 
but  unrelenting.  It  teUs  us  what  we  ought  to  do. 
It  sets  before  us  an  ideal  that  excites  our  admira- 
tion and  provokes  despair.  You  accept  it  as  just, 
but  you  cannot  comply  with  it.  You  resolve  and 
fail.  You  promise  and  break  your  vow.  You 
make  an  effort  and  fall  short.  But  the  Law  ac- 
cepts no  excuse  and  makes  no  allowance.  There  is 
no  pity  in  its  tones.  It  meets  your  contrition  with 
no  encouraging  word.  Its  face  is  rigid  and  its 
voice  is  hard.  Your  passing  grade,  it  tells  you,  is 
a  hundred,  and  you  have  failed.     That  is  aU  it  has 


THE  LETTER  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  191 

to  say.    It  measures;   it  does  not  pity.    It  tabu- 
lates results ;  it  does  not  forgive. 

The  Law  is  the  embodiment  of  God's  will,  but 
there  is  also  another  embodiment  of  that  will. 
And  when,  conscious  of  your  failure,  you  go  to 
Jesus  and  say,  "0  Master,  I  know  I  ought  to 
have  done  better,  and  I  feel  ashamed,"  then  will 
come  a  look  of  such  exquisite  tenderness  upon 
his  face  that  will  say  before  the  words  are  spoken. 
Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee ;  go  in  peace.  When, 
after  fruitless  endeavor  to  learn  the  lessons  of 
life  and  do  its  work,  we  go  to  him  and  say,  "  O 
Divine  Teacher,  I  would  fain  learn,  but  I  am 
very  slow,  and  my  poor  powers  are  not  equal 
to  this  high  task,"  he  wiU  say  to  you  again, 
''Have  patience,  child,  and  I  wiU  teach  thee.  I 
will  put  my  Spirit  within  thee.  I  will  perfect  my 
strength  in  thy  weakness."  The  Law  came  by 
Moses,  but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ. 
Have  fellowship  with  Christ.  Walk  with  him. 
Turn  ever  to  him  for  comfort,  for  strength,  for 
guidance.  Serve  hiTu  while  you  live,  and  by-and-by 
you  shall  be  Like  him,  and  you  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER. 

By  Prof.  James  0.  Murray,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"Aiid  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  that  he  went  out  into  a 
mountain  to  pray,  and  continued  all  night  in  prayer  to  God." 
—Luke  6:12. 

A  LMOST  every  thougMful  person  has  known 
-^•-*^  moods  in  which  the  solitude  and  silenee  of 
nature  came  like  balm  upon  the  hurt  soul.  It  was 
refreshing  and  comforting  to  get  away  from  con- 
tact with  man,  from  vices  that  disgust  us,  and  pet- 
tiness that  vexes  us,  and  deceit  that  affronts  us, 
into  contact  with  the  calm,  sweet  refreshings  of 
nature  and  communion  with  God.  So  we  may 
suppose  our  Lord,  only  in  an  immeasurably  purer 
spirit,  to  have  betaken  himself  gladly  from  the  un- 
belief and  the  hardness,  from  the  mercenary  spiiit 
of  the  loaves  and  fishes  and  the  hateful  Pharisaic 
pride,  from  the  miseiy  and  the  degradation,  into 
this  mountain-top  far  from  all  sights  or  sounds  of 
man.  "  The  scene  of  this  lonely  vigil  is  the  same, 
in  all  probability,  as  that  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount."  As  described  by  recent  observers,  ^'  it  is  a 
192 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  193 

hill  with  a  siiininit  which  closely  resembles  an  Ori- 
ental saddle  with  its  two  high  peaks.  On  the  west 
it  rises  very  Httle  above  the  level  of  a  broad  and 
undulating  plain ;  on  the  east  it  sinks  precipitately 
toward  a  plateau,  on  which  lies,  immediately  be- 
neath the  cliffs,  the  village  of  Hattin ;  and  from  this 
plateau  the  traveler  descends  through  a  wild  and 
tropic  gorge  to  the  shining  levels  of  the  Lake  of 
Galilee.  It  is  the  only  conspicuous  hill  on  the 
western  side  of  the  lake,  and  it  is  singularly  adapted 
by  its  conformation  both  to  form  a  place  for  short 
retirement  and  a  rendezvous  for  gathering  multi- 
tudes." Hither  at  nightfall,  alone,  wean^,  burdened 
with  a  world's  redemption,  came  Christ  to  pray. 
The  stars  came  out  one  by  one  above  him,  the 
silence  deepened  around  him  as  the  night  wore  on, 
and  when,  after  midnight  had  passed  and  the  morn- 
ing star  stood  in  the  heavens,  the  first  ray  of  dawn 
tipped  the  trans-Jordanic  hills,  Christ  was  still  in 
this  communion  with  his  Father.  It  is  not,  then, 
so  much  Christ  fleeing  from  the  harassing,  disap- 
pointing, mournful  contact  with  men  and  men's 
sins  and  miseries  into  the  vernal  quiet  and  refresh- 
ing beauty  of  nature,  as  it  is  Christ  in  this  night  of 
prayer  on  a  mountain-top  disclosing  to  man  prayer 
in  the  highest  ranges  of  spiritual  experience,  which 
aiTests  us  and  challenges  an  eager  and  a  solemn 


194  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

attention.     Chrisfs  devotional  habits  or  Christ  as  a 
man  of  prayer  gives  us  our  theme. 

In  the  outset,  and  before  any  attempt  is  made  to 
combine  in  one  picture  the  scattered  notices  of  his 
prayers,  it  should  be  noted  that  there  is  something 
wonderfully  attractive  and  powerfully  suggestive 
in  this  view  of  Christ.  It  contrasts  so  mightily 
with  that  of  the  same  Christ  stilling  tempests,  cast- 
ing out  evil  spirits,  raising  the  dead.  And  this  not 
only  as  it  reverses  Christ's  position,  bringing  him 
to  his  knees  or  on  his  face  as  a  supplicant  for  help, 
whereas  winds  and  seas  and  devils  and  the  very 
dead  had  but  just  obeyed  his  voice,  but  stiU  more 
as  it  shows  him  entered  into  our  deepest  and  most 
sacred  human  experiences,  those  of  communion 
with  God  in  prayer,  in  sore  soul-struggles,  in  soli- 
tary, anxious,  possibly  bitter  experiences.  To  gain 
any  fit  impression  of  how  deeply  and  pervasively 
prayer  entered  into  the  human  life  of  Chiist,  we 
must  study  the  four  Gospels  and  put  together  their 
separate  notices  of  his  devotional  hfe.  Over  the 
life  of  Jesus  preparatory  to  his  public  ministry, 
that  thirty  years  at  Nazareth,  for  the  most  part  a 
thick  veil  hangs.  But  this  we  do  know,  that  he 
was  trained  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  is  the 
spirit  of  prayer  all  the  way  through,  from  Jacob's 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  195 

wrestling  with  the  Angel  to  Daniel's  supplications 
toward  Jerusalem.  How  natural,  then,  to  find,  as 
we  do  find,  that  his  pubhc  ministr}^  began,  as  it 
ended,  in  prayer.  "  Now  when  all  the  people  were 
baptized,  it  came  to  pass,  that  Jesus  also  being  bap- 
tized, and  praying,  the  heaven  was  opened."  That 
opened  heaven  was  the  avenue  through  which  his 
supplications  found  their  way  to  God  his  Father 
till  death  closed  his  lips  in  silence.  The  Evangel- 
ists are  not  effusive  and  declamatory  on  this  theme. 
They  even  treat  it  with  a  sacred  reserve,  seldom 
lifting  the  veil  from  the  sacred  privacy.  But  when- 
ever it  is  lifted,  what  we  see  rivets  the  impression 
that  prayerfulness  comes  into  the  life  of  Jesus  in 
no  secondary  nor  incidental  way,  but  as  its  under- 
tone, its  substrata  on  which  his  pubhc  life  and 
ministry  repose.  The  EvangeUsts  have  singled 
out  instances  of  Christ's  devotions,  his  prayers  at 
the  remarkable  junctures  of  his  history' — when  he 
was  baptized,  when  he  was  transfigured,  when  he 
chose  the  twelve  apostles,  when  one  of  them  was 
to  be  sifted  like  wheat,  when  he  was  to  be  separated 
from  his  disciples,  when  his  soul  was  coming  under 
its  great  agony,  and  when  he  bowed  his  head  to 
death.  The  impression  which  such  records  make 
on  us  is  that  these  prayers  are  the  indexes  to  his 
whole  life  as  a  life  of  prayerfulness.    They  suggest 


196  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

to  US  the  fact  that  he  made  so  much  of  prayer  as 
to  avail  himself  of  every  possible  outward  aid  to 
devotion.  He  who  was  careful  to  instruct  men 
'that  they  were  to  enter  into  their  closet  and  shut 
to  the  door  and  pray  to  God  in  secret — ^he  sought 
the  stillness  of  night-seasons  and  mountain-tops, 
the  calming  influences  of  perfect  solitude  far  from 
the  madding  crowd.  These  notices  disclose  to  us 
the  fact  that  Christ's  devotional  Hf e  here  and  there 
came  out  in  transcendent  intensity  and  volume, 
taking  for  its  needed  expression  whole  nights  upon 
mountain-tops.  Pause  a  moment  and  think  of 
Christ's  praying  through  that  night,  from  watch  to 
watch,  tUl  the  breaking  day  called  him  to  labor. 
We  know  not  for  what  he  prayed,  we  know  not 
what  blessedness  of  heavenly  communion  or  what 
agonies  of  wresthng  supplication  the  still  heavens 
above  him  witnessed;  whether  Gethsemane  were 
foreshadowed  or  Hermon  renewed.  If,  however, 
we  notice  carefully  the  fact  that  in  all  such  records 
prayer  holds  a  prominent  place  in  what  may  be 
called  the  emergencies  of  Christ's  history,  we  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  by  such  prayers  as  revelations 
of  Christ's  devotional  Hf e.  For  being  made  in  all 
things  like  unto  his  brethren,  there  came  to  him, 
as  there  come  to  all  of  us,  critical  periods  in  Hfe, 
when  existence  suddenly  takes  on  deeper  responsi- 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  197 

bilities.  It  is  some  grave  question  to  affect  the 
whole  future  of  life  for  us— a  change  which  will 
surely  project  its  influences  into  eternity  for  our- 
selves and  for  those  dear  to  us.  It  is  the  memora- 
ble thing  in  the  history  of  the  Redeemer  that  he 
entered  on  no  such  period  without  prayer.  Look 
again  at  that  night  of  prayer  on  the  mountain-top. 
Consider  to  what  it  is  the  prelude.  The  time  has 
come  for  the  Saviour  to  associate  with  himself  the 
men  who  were  to  be  the  founders  of  his  Church  on 
earth.  The  whole  futui-e  of  that  Church  is  to  be 
affected  by  the  transaction.  It  is  the  question  of 
Peter  and  James  and  John.  His  selection  is  made 
after  the  night  of  prayer,  and  they  go  out  to  their 
mighty  responsible  work  under  the  canopy  of  a 
Redeemer's  night-long  supplication  to  God.  In  the 
course  of  his  ministry  another  and  yqyy  different 
experience  rises  before  him.  For  some  purpose, 
not  directly  revealed— perhaps  to  strengthen  the 
faith  of  his  disciples  in  himself  by  disclosing  to 
them  some  of  his  essential  glories  j  perhaps  to 
strengthen  his  own  heart  by  some  transcendent 
communion  with  the  heavenly  world — for  some 
great  purpose  he  is  to  be  transfigured  before  the  dis- 
ciples and  before  the  wondering,  adoring  ages.  But 
he  passes  under  the  great  change  through  the  gates 
of  prayer.     ^^As  lie  prayed,  the  fashion  of  his  coiinte- 


198  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

nance  was  altered.^'  Drawing  near  the  close  of  his 
ministry,  when  the  hour  and  the  meaning  of  his 
great  sacrifice  press  themselves  upon  his  soul  with 
so  marvelous  distinctness  and  poignancy,  he  ex- 
claims, "  Now  is  my  soul  troubled,  and  what  shall 
I  say  ? "  And  he  answers  his  own  question  by  a 
prayer  to  his  Father  in  heaven. 

At  last  the  ministry  is  drawing  to  its  close.  The 
last  supper  is  celebrated;  the  last  discourses  are 
uttered.  His  teaching  mounts  to  its  sublimest 
reach  and  stretches  to  its  utmost  range.  As  he 
began  his  public  ministry  by  prayer  so  must  it  be 
closed  in  prayer ;  and  thus  was  breathed  forth  the 
last,  the  intercessory  prayer  of  Christ,  which  rises 
into  a  grandeur  of  supplication  so  subdued,  so  ten- 
der, that  it  is  the  very  holy  of  holies  of  inspiration. 
These  all  were  emergencies  of  labor,  emergencies  of 
suffering.  How  fruitful  in  every  age  have  they 
not  been  in  evoking  from  human  lips  plaintive, 
passionate  cries  to  Heaven.  We  look  into  the 
shades  of  Gethsemane,  and  see  stretched  out  in 
dim  outline  beneath  the  olive  trees  the  prostrate 
Son  of  God.  We  hear  a  prayer ;  it  struggles  up 
into  utterance,  every  word  palpitating  with  a  great 
anguish.  Thrice — thrice  it  smites  our  ears  and 
pierces  the  heavens :  "  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let 
this  cup  pass  from  me."     The  cup  did  not  pass,  but 


CHRIST  /IS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  199 

an  angel  came.  And  then,  oh  then,  in  the  supreme 
moment,  when  the  sacrifice  was  complete  and  re- 
demption was  finished,  once  more  Christ  prayed, 
"Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit," 
and  his  life  went  out  in  the  breathing  of  a  prayer. 
Olivet,  Hermon,  Gethsemane,  Calvary — what  views 
they  give  us  of  the  praying  Christ !  These  emer- 
gencies of  his  history  fall,  as  you  perceive,  into  two 
classes.  They  are  emergencies  of  labor  or  suffer- 
ing. Either  he  has  some  vaster  responsibilities  to 
meet,  or  his  soul  is  to  pass  under  the  baptism  of 
some  great  anguish,  and  in  both  he  needs  to  pray, 
in  both  does  pray,  and  teaches  us  how  to  pray  in 
both.  In  just  those  periods,  at  just  those  points  of 
his  life  when  sacred  destinies  are  most  densely 
gathered,  those  passages  in  his  history  on  which, 
therefore,  the  gaze  of  men  would  be  most  intensely 
fixed,  there  we  find  him  praying.  So  do  Christ's 
prayers  He  at  the  veiy  heart  of  his  ministrj^  His 
devotional  habits  were  marked  by  the  two  great 
traits  of  intensity  and  perseverance.  He  who 
taught  that  men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to 
faint,  rose  up  a  great  while  before  day  and  departed 
into  a  solitary  place,  and  there  prayed,  or  spent  a 
night  of  solitude  in  supplication.  Prayer  was  no 
occasional,  sporadic  element  in  Christ's  life.  The 
fountain  leaping  fai'  into  the  air  shows  the  deeply 


200  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

hidden  spring;  and  so  prayer  comes  to  the  fore- 
front in  the  life  of  Christ.  Side  by  side  with  teach- 
ings, with  deeds,  with  sufferings  which  proclaim 
him  the  God  incarnate,  the  man  divine,  Christ's 
prayers  show  what  celestial  forces  played  through 
that  life,  finding  it  so  perfectly  human  in  its  expe- 
riences of  want,  and  making  it  so  perfectly  divine 
in  its  blessedness  of  supply.  Still  we  must  advance 
one  step  farther  and  see  how  Christ's  prayerfulness 
was  balanced  by  Christ's  laboriousness. 

It  has  not  always  been  the  case  that  so-called 
men  of  prayer  have  been  men  of  Christian  toil. 
Much,  indeed,  of  so-caUed  communion  with  God 
seems  to  be  an  end  in  itself,  looking  to  enjoyment 
or  to  a  sort  of  spiritual  development,  which  is  pie- 
tism, but  not  piety.  The  mystics  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  like  John  Tauler,  some  more  modern  mys- 
tics, like  Madame  Guyon,  approached  dangerously 
near  such  an  error,  if  they  did  not  topple  over  its 
verge.  There  is  an  ignorant  piety  full  of  emotion- 
alism, which  is  fluent  in  prayer,  works  itseK  up 
into  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  but  which  has  apparently 
no  moral  basis.  But  without  going  at  length  into 
these  fearful  distortions  of  true  prayerfulness, 
which  shock  and  disgust  aU  right-minded  people, 
skeptics  and  intelligent  believers  alike,  we  may  find 
some  food  for  thought  in  the  great  disparity  for 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  201 

many  of  us  between  the  amount  of  our  prajdng  and 
the  amount  of  our  working.  How  often  we  have 
prayed  with  undoubted  fervor  and  sincerity  for  the 
kingdom  of  God !  If  by  an  effort  of  memory  we 
could  recall  the  numbers  of  such  prayers  ive  have 
offered,  and  if  by  any  disclosure  we  could  see  the 
numbers  of  prayers  the  saints  of  all  ages  have 
offered,  and  could  compare  them  with  the  actual 
labors  put  forth,  manifold  as  these  have  been,  we 
should  be  overwhelmed  with  the  enormous  disparity 
between  praying  and  working.  It  is  so  easy  to 
pray,  and  so  hard  to  work — ^that  is,  it  is  so  easy  to 
go  through  the  motions  or  forms  of  prayer  j  but  to 
work — there  comes  the  test  of  courage,  endurance, 
faith.  To  say,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  and  to  feel 
that  it  would  be  so  blessed  and  so  glorious  if  it  only 
would  come,  this  is  surely  no  thorny  path  to  tread. 
But  to  translate  the  prayer  into  action,  to  do  the 
deed  on  which  the  coming  kingdom  depends,  "  ay, 
there's  the  rub." 

The  moment,  however,  we  look  at  prayer  as  it 
stands  in  the  Hfe  of  any  saint  of  God,  Old  Testa- 
ment or  New,  that  moment  we  see  no  such  disparity 
existiug.  Every  man  of  prayer  is  a  man  of  toil 
too.  Elijah  prayed,  and  the  heavens  gave  no  rain. 
Again  he  prayed,  and  the  heavens  gave  forth  the 
rain  abundantly.     He  was  a  man  of  Hke  passions 


202  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

as  we  are.  But  look  at  that  stern,  mighty  old 
prophet,  majestic  figure  that  he  is,  of  uncompromis- 
ing fidehty  in  a  time  of  apostasy,  and  see  how  in 
him  mighty  labors  kept  even  pace  with  mighty 
prayers.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  Paul.  His 
simple  but  appealing  words  show  us  the  man,  whose 
very  conversion  was  heralded  by  the  words,  ''  Be- 
hold, he  prayeth."  '^Mght  and  day  praying  exceed- 
ingly for  ^jouP  But  all  this  life  of  devotion,  how 
it  rises  against  a  mighty  background  of  toil  and 
suffering  for  his  Lord. 

In  Christ,  however,  most  conspicuously  are  the 
two  elements  joined — ^the  praying  and  the  working. 
Paint  his  devotional  life  in  never  so  vivid  colors,  his 
working  life  keeps  in  harmony  with  every  tint  and 
outline.  In  fact,  what  gives  this  picture  in  the 
text — Christ  praying  alone  on  the  mountain-top 
through  the  long  night-watches — ^its  great  power 
and  glory  is  that  he  went  to  that  mountain-top 
after  one  day  of  toil,  and  would  come  down  from 
it  to  engage  in  another  exactly  like  it ;  so  that  if  a 
disciple  could  say  of  his  imrecorded  works,  the 
world  itself  could  not  contain  the  books  that  might 
be  written  to  record  them,  it  might  also  be  said  that 
those  works  of  Jesus,  so  incessant,  so  numberless, 
so  gracious,  are  only  the  outgrowth  of  an  answer- 
ing prayerfulness.     Nor  can  we  duly  estimate  the 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  203 

prayerf ulness  of  Christ  till  we  look  at  his  prayers 
as  intercessory  prayers. 

The  intercession  of  Christ  is  one  divine  func- 
tion of  his  priestly  office.  He  is  now  fulfilling 
it,  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  One  design  cer- 
tainly of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  to  acquaint 
us  with  the  nature  and  the  blessedness  of  the 
sacerdotal  ministry  now  exercised  by  Christ  in 
behaK  of  his  people.  It  must  differ  from  his  aton- 
ing work.  That  is  finished — complete.  It  must 
rest  upon  and  depend  on  the  atoning  work,  for  that 
is  urged  as  the  ground  of  his  intercession.  What- 
ever it  is  in  nature  or  manifestation,  it  fills  heaven 
with  praise  and  earth  with  blessing.  Now,  of  this 
heavenly  intercession  some  of  his  earthly  suppHca- 
tions  are  beautiful  types.  Indeed,  in  one  sense,  as 
his  whole  life  was  vicarious,  so  all  his  praying  is 
vicarious.  If  it  was  in  form  prayer  a  blessing  to 
himself,  it  is  in  fact  prayer  that  he  might  thereby 
bless  the  world  he  came  to  redeem.  But  his  prayers 
often  assumed  directly  the  intercessory  form  and 
style.  As  such,  they  interpret  to  us  what  are  the 
heavenly  intercessions  within  the  veil  still  offered 
for  his  people.  Young  children  were  brought  to  him 
that  he  should  put  his  hands  upon  them  and  pray. 
"  And  he  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  put  his  hands 
upon  them,  and  blessed  them."    Christ  praying  for 


204  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

a  gi'oup  of  children — does  this  seem  to  any  mind  a 
lowly  office  for  him  to  assume  ?  If  so,  it  is  only 
because  the  question  of  childhood  is  feebly  con- 
ceived and  its  immense  range  overlooked,  or  be- 
cause the  blessed  truth  is  unappreciated  that  the 
very  greatness  of  divine  love  is  often  manifest 
in  the  feebleness  and  helplessness  of  the  objects 
toward  which  it  is  exercised.  When,  a  generation 
since,  a  gifted  Christian  poetess  wrote  her  "Cry 
of  the  Children,"  the  Christian  world  was  roused 
by  her  pathetic,  indignant  song.  What  was  it, 
after  all,  but  a  faint  echo  from  a  Christian  woman's 
soul  of  what  ages  before  had  been  heard  in  Pales- 
tine, when  Christ  made  his  prayer  for  childhood  ? 

Still  more  specifically  and  powerfully  does  Christ 
commend  to  our  hearts  the  intercessory  type  of 
prayer  in  his  words  to  the  apostle  Peter:  "And 
the  Lord  said,  Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  hath 
desired  to  have  you,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat : 
but  I  have  prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not." 
Christ  knew  this  disciple  stood  in  imminent  peril ; 
that  his  soul  would  shortly  be  shaken  in  gusts  of 
temptation,  "as  when  one  thresheth  wheat  upon 
the  threshing  floor  and  winnoweth  it."  The  story 
of  Simon  Peter's  denial  of  his  Lord  is  the  actual 
commentary  on  this  word  of  the  Lord.  What  kept 
him  safe  in  that  terrible  hour  fi'om  final,  utter 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  205 

apostasy  ?  What  saved  him  from  a  shipwreck  of 
faith,  hopeless,  irretrievable,  disastrous  ?  That  in- 
tercession of  Christ — that,  and  that  alone.  "  I  have 
prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not."  There 
was  evidently  an  hour  when  Jesus  bore  in  prayer 
to  his  Father  the  case  of  this  imperiled  disciple, 
when  Christ  pleaded  for  him  at  the  throne  of  grace, 
and  forever  illustrated  for  all  men  and  all  time  the 
great  doctrine  of  intercession.  It  is  only,  however, 
when  we  turn  to  Christ's  last  or  intercessory  prayer, 
recorded  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  St.  John's 
Gospel,  that  we  can  grasp  any  fit  conception  of 
what  Christ's  earthly  intercessions  were  for  fullness 
and  richness.  What  vastness  of  range,  as  it  covers 
the  whole  body  of  the  faithful,  that  great  multi- 
tude which  no  man  can  number,  gathered  from  the 
east  and  the  west,  the  north  and  the  south,  and 
who  stood  to  Christ  as  all  those  who  had  been 
given  him !  What  ages  of  Christian  toil  and  Chris- 
tian conflict,  suffering  and  testimony,  self-sacrifice 
and  aspiration,  it  covers,  as  the  one  body  of  Chris- 
tian discipleship  is  brought  under  the  terms  of  this 
prayer!  What  richness,  what  amplitude  of  peti- 
tion, as  it  stretches  away  from  sanctification  on 
earth  to  glorification  in  heaven,  from  holy  ward 
against  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world,  to  partici- 
pation and  so  perception  of  the  glory  which  Christ 


206  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

has  and  had  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
As  his  miracles  are  the  fit  symbols  of  his  power,  so 
this  intercessory  prayer  is  the  fit  symbol  of  his  in- 
tercessions in  heaven,  interpreting  and  endearing 
them  to  our  human  hearts  as  we  slowly  and  pain- 
fully struggle  upward  along  the  path  of  Christian 
discipline,  sorrow,  and  toil. 

And  thus,  indeed,  are  we  brought  to  see  the  fact 
that  Christ,  in  these  prayers  of  an  earthly  interces- 
sion, reveals  to  us  the  moral  grandeur  as  well  as 
preciousness  there  is  in  prayer.  If  a  man  could 
only  pray  for  himself,  if  by  some  limitation  in  the 
nature  of  things,  or  in  the  immutable  sovereignty 
of  God,  every  soul  had  the  privilege  for  itseK  alone, 
even  then  such  a  boon  offered  to  all  were  a  price- 
less blessing.  But  now,  as  intercession  for  others, 
how  prayer  rises  and  swells  into  moral  grandeur 
and  moral  worth !  Jesus,  standing  with  his  disci- 
ples about  the  table  on  which  the  sacrament  of  the 
last  supper  was  yet  to  be  celebrated,  and  as  thej 
were  about  to  start  for  the  garden  across  the  brook 
Kedron,  lifts  his  eyes  to  heaven.  But  he  has  al- 
ready looked  down  through  the  ages,  far  across 
continents  then  unknown,  and  sees  the  fast  gath- 
ering throng  of  his  disciples  j  sees  them  toiling, 
witnessing,  suffering  for  his  sake ;  sees  the  faithful 
leaders  in  one  generation  die,  and  those  of  the  next 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  207 

run  to  take  their  places  j  sees  aJl  the  di-eadfol  cor- 
ruptions, all  the  stern  conflicts,  aU  the  sad  heresies 
and  schisms,  all  the  triumphs  too,  and  growths,  as 
the  blessed  leaven  slowly  leavens  the  whole  lump ; 
and  as  he  looks  on  the  whole  up  to  the  very  end, 
he  prays  for  all  those  who  should  beheve  on  him 
through  the  word  of  his  apostles.  And  from  this 
scene  on  earth  we  look  reverently  up  to  his  throne 
in  heaven,  where  he  ever  liveth  to  make  interces- 
sion for  us. 

This  study  of  Christ's  devotional  habits  leads 
straight  to  several  lessons  touching  on  vital  spir- 
itual interests.  First,  as  to  the  individual,  we  can 
see  how  large  a  place  prayer  ought  to  hold  in  everj' 
human  life.  Did  Jesus  Christ  find  such  need  of 
prayer  ?  Was  he  in  his  sinless  manhood  so  beset 
by  duties  and  pressed  by  responsibilities  and  sorrows 
that  he  had  need  of  this  strong  crying  and  tears  ? 
We  may  be  sure  that  he  who  was  the  Truth  prayed 
because  prayer  met,  and  prayer  only  could  meet, 
actual,  living,  daily  wants.  But  if  this  is  true  for 
Christ,  how  much  more  for  men,  who  are  sinful  and 
weak  and  ignorant.  What  an  awful  vacuum  is  a 
prayerless  life  !  There  is  not  a  soul  before  me,  not 
one,  but  is  so  encompassed  with  infirmities,  and  yet 
has  so  much  of  Christian  responsibility  in  one 
shape  or  other  to  meet  j  but  is  so  poorly  equipped 


208  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

for  service  of  Christ,  compared  with  what  he  should 
be  as  a  servant  of  the  Lord  j  but  has  so  many  and 
so  pressing  spiritual  wants,  that  if  such  a  life  be 
prayerless,  it  is  a  moral  anomaly  bafiSing  all  expla- 
nation, save  that  which  comes  in  an  unbelieving  and 
hardened  heart.  In  fact,  it  is  the  privilege  of  man 
to  pray,  because  we  have  a  Mediator  with  God — 
Christ  Jesus.  Prayer,  then,  in  human  life,  by  rea- 
son of  its  needs  so  manifold  and  pressing,  by  reason 
of  its  perils  so  various  and  so  imminent,  by  reason 
of  its  opportunities  so  gracious  and  so  fleeting — 
prayer  ought  to  come  to  the  front  in  every  man's 
life  as  a  spiritual  power,  a  power  with  God.  Thus 
it  stands  in  the  Mf  e  of  Christ.  Thus  he  has  put  it 
for  all  men  by  his  own  divine  example.  Effectual 
and  fervent  praying  may  sound  depths,  as  it  may 
test  qualities  of  manhood,  which  working  never  can. 
Secondly,  as  to  the  body  of  Christian  disciple- 
ship.  For  as  an  agency  in  promoting  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth,  prayer  is  to  be  put,  not 
side  by  side  with  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and 
ordinances,  but  above  them.  They  are  nothing 
except  a  divine  influence  vitalizes  them,  and  that 
divine  influence  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
that  comes  only  along  the  channels  opened  by 
prayer.  So  Christ,  in  the  model  of  all  prayer, 
taught  his  disciples  to  say,  '^  Thy  kingdom  come." 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN   OF  PRAYER.  209 

Prayer  as  an  agency  for  promoting  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  prayer  in  its  form  of  intercession.  It 
has  all  the  moral  grandeui*  and  all  the  divine 
tenderness  which  are  reflected  from  Christ's  prayer 
for  the  behevers  of  all  ages.  And  the  danger 
which  now  more  than  any  other  threatens  us  is 
that  we  shall  be  found  looking  away  from  the  sole 
efficacious  element  in  spiritual  growth^  the  might 
of  God's  Spirit,  to  what  is  adventitious,  subordi- 
nate— to  the  mere  instrument,  to  the  ''  drawing  ele- 
ment "  in  the  pulpit,  to  the  ''  live  element "  in  the 
prayer-meeting,  to  the  blackboard  element  in  the 
Sunday-school,  to  the  thousand  and  one  expedi- 
ents devised  for  making  religion  interesting; 
whereas,  if  we  did  but  remember  it,  one  breath 
of  God's  spirit  on  a  human  soul,  one  touch  of  that 
Spirit  on  the  long-sealed  spiritual  vision,  and  the 
whole  soul  is  alert  and  absorbed  by  the  gi-eat  spir- 
itual interests,  by  truth,  by  the  means  of  grace. 
No  need  now  for  the  spicery  of  rehgious  entertain- 
ments. The  soul  has  come  to  find  in  the  sober, 
earnest  following  of  Christ  what  expands  all  its 
powers  and  meets  all  its  wants.  While  this  age, 
as  all  ages  past,  can  forget  the  ancient  warn- 
ing, ^^  Cursed  is  the  man  that  malceth  an  arm  of 
flesh  his  trust,"  only  at  deadly  peril  and  unutter- 
able loss,  there  is  this  difference  between  Chi'ist's 


210  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

praying  and  our  own.  He  always  prayed  aright ; 
we  ask  amiss.  And  we  enter  into  the  secret  of 
Christ's  praying  only  as  we  pray  to  our  heavenly 
Father  above  all  fear  of  violating  natural  laws, 
and  in  the  perfect  confidence  that  God  can  answer 
any  wise  prayer,  and  have  the  whole  system  of 
laws  move  majestically  forward,  untroubled  as  the 
slumber  of  an  infant.  ''  Thinkest  thou  that  I  can- 
not now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall  presently 
give  me  twelve  legions  of  angels  ? "  This  was  the 
faith  of  Jesus  in  prayer,  that  by  the  opening  of  his 
lips  in  a  suppUcation  he  could  fill  the  sky  above 
him  with  twelve  legions  of  angels,  hovering  above 
his  head,  a  canopy  of  defense  from  all  harm,  and 
filling  the  air  with  their  shining  squadrons.  This 
should  be  our  faith  in  prayer,  that  it  will  bring 
into  our  lives  and  into  the  lives  of  others,  unnum- 
bered and  matchless  blessings  which  will  never 
come  unless  our  lips  open  to  pray.  Cure  your 
doubts  about  prayer  by  looking  to  Jesus.  Philos- 
ophy will  not  cure  them,  but  the  example  of  a 
praying  Christ  may  and  can  cure  your  weakness 
of  faith  in  prayer  by  recalling  the  sincerity  and 
strength  of  Christ's  confidence  in  it,  and  its  mani- 
fest answers  in  his  history.  Come  into  his  theory 
of  prayer,  and  it  shall  cease  to  wear  any  tentative, 
experimental  look.    It  shall  be  a  power  with  God. 


CHRIST  AS  A  MAN  OF  PRAYER.  211 

Rebuke  all  your  bad  habits  as  to  prayer,  aU  your 
indolence  in  and  suppression  of  prayer,  by  tliis 
study  of  the  devotional  habits  of  Christ,  not  as  an 
abstraction  in  theological  science,  but  as  a  lifelike 
thing  in  the  history  of  Jesus.  Put  no  more  excuses 
before  God  for  your  meagerness  in  prayer  because 
of  your  distracted  life.  Learn  from  Jesus  how  to 
bring  the  calming  influences  of  prayer  into  the 
distractions  of  your  business.  Seek,  as  he  sought, 
every  outward  aid  to  prayer:  stillness  of  night- 
seasons,  freshness  of  morning  dawn,  solitude  of 
sequestered  places.  Then  shall  prayer  in  your  life 
rise  to  the  majesty  and  worth  of  its  office — as  com- 
mimion  with  Heaven. 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE 
BY  CHRIST. 

By  Prof.  James  0.  Murray,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"And  as  he  prayed,  the  fashion  of  his  countenance  was 
altered,  and  his  raiment  was  whit^  and  glistening." — Luke 
9:29. 

rriHERE  are  two  "ways  of  looking  at  the  Trans- 
-L  figuration  of  our  Lord,  or  rather  two  lights 
in  which  the  wonderful  incident  may  be  viewed. 
One  reflects  it  simply  as  related  in  its  scope  and 
meaning  to  the  person  of  our  Saviour,  and  to  some 
teaching  upon  his  character  and  work.  In  this 
view  it  has  connection  with  Christian  life  only  as 
that  life  is  interested  in  any  disclosure  of  our 
Lord's  glory.  The  broader  and  deeper  conception 
sees  in  it  all  this,  and  besides  this,  the  truth  that 
in  Christ  everything  is  transfigured  for  a  Chris- 
tian. As  we  are  taught  that  the  splendors  of  his 
transfiguration  reached  even  to  his  garments,  and 
while  the  fashion  of  his  countenance  was  altered 
and  did  shine  as  the  sun,  his  raiment  became 
exceeding  white  as  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth 
212 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION   OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   213 

could  whiten  it,  so  the  transfiguration  of  Christ 
spreads  over  and  touches  with  heavenly  glories  what- 
ever he  dwells  in.  For  his  name  is  Emmanuel — 
God  with  us.  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us."  The  whole  mount  was  transformed 
by  the  bright  overshadowing  cloud.  Even  the  dis- 
ciples caught  some  of  the  reflected  glories,  and 
longed  to  abide  there.  An  adoring  and  simple 
Christian  faith  dehghts  to  see,  therefore,  in  this 
scene  a  symboHc  teaching  as  well  as  a  transcendent 
historic  fact  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  That  teaching  is, 
our  Lord  transfigures  life  for  his  disciples,  sets 
their  whole  human  earthly  existence  in  new  lights. 
The  incarnate  Saviour  was  so  glorified,  that  we 
might  understand  that  he  has  power  to  shed  trans- 
figuration-glories over  that  life  in  which  he  came 
down  from  heaven  to  take  part  I  shall  try  to 
show  how  he  can  do  this,  and  actually  does  do  this 
for  many  a  Christian  soul,  by  unfolding  vaiious 
human  experiences  as  thus  transfigured  in  Christ. 

First,  then,  look  at  earthly  cares  '-in  this  new 
transfiguring  Ught  which  may  shine  on  them  from 
Hermon.  Subtracting  at  once  from  daily  life  all  its 
unnecessary  cares,  those  made  by  our  artificial  and 
foolish  wants,  by  our  pride  or  by  our  inordinate, 
racing  ambitious,  the  actual  burden  of  necessary 
cares  is  very  gi-eat.     Those  belonging  to  man  in 


214  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

his  sphere,  and  to  woman  in  hers,  household  cares 
and  business  cares,  sacred  as  the  home  can  make 
them,  severe  and  engrossing  as  business  life  exacts, 
all  such  absorb  our  time,  tax  our  energies  and  our 
patience  and  our  skill,  and  seemingly  enter  into 
life  as  its  controlling  element.  Other  burdens 
come  into  life  as  occasions.  Their  pressure  is 
intermittent.  These  are  constant.  Their  pressure 
is  never  lifted.  I  do  not  see  that  wealth  seems  to 
make  much  difference  in  the  matter,  for  though 
apparently  it  has  the  power  to  purchase  exemption 
from  much  that  is  wearisome,  it  has  its  own  bur- 
dens to  carry.  The  world  is  full  of  careworn  faces 
among  rich  and  poor,  and  where  the  face  may  be 
unwrinkled  yet  the  heart  is  careworn.  There  is 
no  social  science  that  can  rid  us  of  these  cares  of 
life.  They  are  in  it  by  divine  appointment  for  a 
discipline  of  character.  The  noblest  type  of  life 
has  them  most  characteristically  in  it.  For  civil- 
ized life  differs  from  savage  life  5  among  many 
other  things,  prominently  in  this,  that  it  sees  and 
assumes  the  legitimate  and  real  burdens  of  care 
which  God  has  assigned  to  life,  and  only  by  seeing 
and  assuming  which  our  human  life  can  advance 
to  its  completeness  for  the  individual,  for  society, 
for  the  state,  and  for  the  Church. 

Yet  in  a  worldly  or  a  stoical — that  is,  an  unspir- 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   215 

itual,  uncliristLLke — way  of  looking  at  this  feature  of 
our  existence,  it  resolves  itseK  into  so  much  drtidg- 
ery.  It  makes  up  a  large  part  of  what  are  called 
the  ^^  worries  ^^  of  life.  The  energies  and  the  pa- 
tience and  the  skill  are  gathered  up  to  encounter 
them,  because  the  livelihood  or  the  bodily  comfort, 
or  at  best  the  fortune  or  the  competence  which  is 
to  purchase  exemption  from  them,  hes  at  the  end 
of  the  road  dragging  itseK  wearily  and  roughly 
through  them.  How  welcome  is  sometimes  the 
slumber  at  the  close  of  a  day  full  of  such  ceaseless 
drudgeries,  in  which  for  a  few  hours  they  are 
buried  in  a  welcome  oblivion!  How  cheerless, 
vexatious,  harassing  is  the  night  season  in  which 
these  drudgeries  are  laid  on  sleepless  pillows,  where 
they  hold  a  witches'  dance  before  the  unwilling  but 
compelled  imagination  in  distorted  shapes ! 

It  seems  also  to  make  little  difference  as  to  the 
relative  dignity  of  these  cares  of  hf  e.  If  men  high 
in  stations  of  public  life  told  aU  they  knew  of  its 
drudgeries,  something  of  its  glamour  would  cer- 
tainly vanish.  It  is  simply  nobler  drudgery  than 
what  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  hodcarrier  or  the  wash- 
erwoman. Now,  if  there  is  no  way  by  which  all 
such  earthly  drudgeries  can  be  transfigured,  brought 
into  some  new  light,  and  made  even  to  shine  with 
some  heavenly  radiance,  then  for  by  far  the  greater 


216  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

part  of  mankind  and  womankind  the  moil  and  toil 
of  life  are  hard,  dull,  oppressive  realities,  from 
which  there  are  occasional  brief  respites,  yet  which 
make  the  work,  the  daily  occupation  a  stem,  stub- 
bom  necessity,  and  that  is  all  the  a<JCOunt  to  give 
of  it. 

There  is,  however,  a  transfiguration  for  such 
cares.  If  they  are  viewed  as  part  of  a  wise  and 
gracious  Christian  discipline  for  character ;  if  they 
are  made  the  educators  of  Christian  courage.  Chris- 
tian patience.  Christian  gentleness,  Christian  calm- 
ness. Christian  submission,  they  are  set  m  a  new 
hghf  as  means  of  grace.  As  the  attraction  of 
gravitation  is  as  much  a  law  of  God  as  the  first 
commandment  m  the  Decalogue,  so  this  means  of 
grace  in  the  ordered  discipHne  of  life,  through  its 
cares,  transfigures  the  cares  from  drudgeries  into 
the  ministers  of  Christ.  All  this  will  be  missed, 
however,  if  instead  of  looking  at  them  as  means 
of  grace  they  are  thought  of  and  treated  as  hin- 
drances to  grace.  A  mountain,  unless  you  climb 
it,  may  shut  out  youi'  view.  Transfigure  the  cares 
of  life  LQto  means  of  grace,  surround  them  with 
that  holy  light  which  Christ  sheds  on  them  as  daily 
discipline  of  character  in  us — of  character  accord- 
ing to  his  teaching  and  example — and  you  wiU  find 
that  if  life  has  its  Gethsemanes  for  us  all  it  has 


THE    TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   217 

also  its  Hermons.  Counting-rooms  and  nurseries 
may  as  well  be  Bethels  of  the  soul  as  was  the  city 
of  Luz  to  the  patriarch.  But  before  many  men 
and  women  see  them  as  such  they  will  have  to 
awake  out  of  sleep,  saving,  "  Surely  the  Lord  is  in 
these  places,  and  we  knew  it  not." 

The  transfiguration  of  life  for  us  by  Christ 
sweeps  over  a  broader  field,  however,  for,  secondly, 
the  sorrows  of  life  can  in  the  same  way  be  trans- 
figured through  him. 

"  Perhaps,"  said  Vinet,  '^  to  suffer  is  nothing  else 
than  to  live  more  deeply.  Love  and  sorrow  are  the 
two  conditions  of  a  profound  life.  Woe  to  him 
who  should  be  without  affliction  here  below — 
whom  the  divine  Educator  should  have  excluded 
from  his  mysterious  school !  We  might  well  ask 
ourselves  at  sight  of  so  alarming  a  f eUcity,  '  What 
has  he  done  to  be  thus  overlooked  ?  Is  he  too  pure 
to  be  passed  thi'ough  the  crucible,  or  too  bad,  too 
desperate,  to  be  worth  trying  there  ? ' " 

Sorrow  is,  indeed,  in  one  form  or  another,  as 
inevitable  as  death  itself.  It  is  a  poor  life  which 
has  not  known  grief  in  some  form.  It  is  a  cheap 
and  superficial  and  vulgar  conception  of  life  which 
craves  an  existence  untouched  by  suffering,  whose 
best  symbol  would  be  a  rocking-chau'  or  a  bed 
of  down.     For  there  come  down  to  us  from  the 


218  PROFESSOR  MURRAY, 

serene  heights  of  inspiration  these  tender  and 
sacred  words  applied  to  the  one  spotless  human 
life:  "Though  he  were  a  Son,  yet  learned  he 
obedience  by  the  things  that  he  suffered."  Never 
was  truer  word  spoken  by  mortal  man  than  that 
word  of  Vinet,  "  Love  and  sorrow  are  the  two  con- 
ditions of  a  profound  life."  They  find  at  once 
their  mighty  proof  and  their  transcendent  illus- 
tration in  the  life  of  the  "  Man  of  Sorrows."  For 
surely  it  is  the  profound  and  awful  meaning  of 
Gethsemane,  as  the  prelude  to  the  divine  Sacrifice, 
that  there  love  and  sorrow  meet  and  mingle  in  an 
eternal  consecrated  mystery. 

And  yet  there  is  a  way  of  looking  at  human  sor- 
rows which  denudes  them  of  all  dignity  and  depth 
of  meaning.  If  I  see  in  them  only  so  much  pain 
of  wounded  sensibihties  shooting  its  fiery  darts 
into  the  soul,  only  so  much  anguish  to  be  hidden 
away  from  the  sight  of  one's  fellows,  as  the 
wounded  animal  leaves  the  herd  to  die;  if  the 
woes  which  come  soon  or  late  are  so  much  inevita- 
ble grief  put  into  my  eai-thly  lot  by  operation  of 
laws  or  by  the  environments  of  the  great  system, 
and  to  be  simply  accepted  and  stoically  borne ;  if 
the  very  best  thing,  the  only  wise  and  true  thing 
to  be  said  and  done  for  a  sorrowful  spirit  is 
to  speak  to  it  kiadly  in  some  warm  and  tender 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   219 

human  sympathy,  and  commit  it  to  the  healing 
tendencies  of  time — then  this  sorrowful  side  of 
human  existence,  which  is  so  large  a  pai't  of  it,  so 
dark  a  part  of  it,  so  painful  and  prolonged  a  part 
of  it,  becomes  all  that  the  pessimism  of  Schopen- 
hauer or  Hartmann  has  ever  painted  it,  and  what 
one  had  better  do  is  just  to  keep  his  eyes  from  see- 
ing it,  until  he  has  to  see  it  and  feel  it  for  himseK. 
If  anything  in  life  needs  transfiguration  it  is  surely 
human  sorrow. 

It  finds  such  in  Christ.  It  is  not  so  much  heart- 
ache, so  much  mental  anguish,  so  much  unmet 
longing,  so  shadowing  and  depressing  gloom, 
''  crushing  us  back  and  imprisoning  om-selves "  in 
our  own  dark  forebodings;  it  is  a  discipHne  of 
character  through  which  we  can  grow  into  choice 
Christian  graces,  and  through  which  as  its  last  and 
fullest  achievement  we  can  even  grow  into  fellow- 
ship with  Christ's  sufferings ;  by  which  on  the  one 
hand  we  are  made  humble,  gentle,  patient,  unself- 
ish, and  on  the  other  are  brought  in  closer  and 
tenderer  relations  with  Christ  Jesus— the  Man  of 
Sorrows,  the  divine  Sufferer.  "Always  to  suffer, 
yet  always  to  love,  would  be  pai-adise  in  compari- 
son with  always  prospering  and  always  hating/' 
Who  cannot  recaU  to  memory  some  instance  of 
that  di\inest  thing  in  life — a  sanctified  sorrow,  a 


220  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

holy  grief  5  some  silver-haired  parent  who  has 
passed  through  deep  waters  j  some  dear  child 
whose  young,  fair  life  was  early  touched  with  the 
chastening  influences  of  suffering?  Placid,  chas- 
tened, submissive,  sympathetic,  hopeful,  radiant  at 
times  with  the  expectation  of  heaven,  yet  grateful 
for  every  sweetness  yet  spared  in  Hf e,  to  which  the 
sunniest  childhood  will  in  its  frolics  and  mirth  be- 
take itseK  and  nestle  there,  there  is  no  spiritual 
beauty  in  life  to  compare  with  it.  Yet  what  a  trans- 
figuration it  is !  Out  of  tears  and  pains  and  con- 
flicts it  has  all  come.  Just  as  the  light  of  Chi-ist's 
transfiguration-glories,  glancing  on  the  rocks  of 
Hermon,  made  them  glow  as  if  they  were  the  walls 
of  heaven,  so  the  power  of  a  heavenly,  spiritual  dis- 
cipline through  Christ  and  in  Christ  puts  this  trans- 
figuration on  sorrow.  In  that  glorified  form  on 
Hermon  Peter  and  James  and  John  did  not  see  the 
^'Man  of  Sorrows."  They  saw  a  glorified  Redeem- 
er, into  which  he  had  been  transfigured.  Philoso- 
phy may  stoically  bear  or  proudly  conceal  grief ; 
human  sympathy  may  lightly  assuage  grief ;  time 
may  dull  grief ;  but  only  Christ  can  transfigure  it ; 
and  when  the  sorrows  of  life  have  been  transmuted 
into  a  sweet  and  gracious  spiritual  discipline  of 
character,  not  Hermon  itself  ever  saw  a  more  ver- 
itable transfiguration. 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION   OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   221 

Darker  clouds  than  those  either  of  care  or  sorrow 
gather  above  human  life — clouds  of  temptation. 
Yet,  thirdhj,  for  this  also  there  is  in  Christ  a  trans- 
figuring power. 

Most  of  us  live  on  from  day  to  day  taking  httle 
note  of  the  large  part  which  temptation  plays  in 
our  probation.  The  misjudging  comes  from  not 
observing  the  real  nature  of  temptation — that  it 
can  come  from  within  as  weU  as  from  without ;  that 
it  may  be  seductively  quiet  as  weU  as  stormily  op- 
pressive. A  constant  strain  is  put  on  our  supposed 
or  real  goodness  from  three  sources.  First  from 
within.  Every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn 
away  of  his  own  lust  and  enticed.  What  can  this 
word  lust  mean  here  but  every  sort  of  unlawful  de- 
sire ?  It  means  the  unlawful  desire  for  lawful  things 
as  well  as  for  the  unlawful  objects  5  for  excessive 
praise  as  well  as  for  unholy  pleasures.  It  means 
an  inordinate  ambition  for  wealth,  power,  social 
distinction,  just  as  much  as  a  gluttony  or  drunken- 
ness. The  heart  called  '^ purest"  by  men  has  yet 
its  lusts  which  draw  it  away  and  entice  it  from  God. 
So,  too,  there  are  outward  conditions  in  life  out 
of  which  spring,  as  wild  beasts  from  hidden  lairs, 
so  many  soHcitations  to  evil.  Business,  societj^,  a 
humdrum  life,  as  well  as  an  absorbing  and  excited 
life,  all  may  in  turn  become  temptations,  if  not  to 


222  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

gross  and  repulsive  forms  of  evil,  to  worldly,  un- 
spiritual  lives,  and  they  are  as  real  as  any  that 
horrified  the  soul  of  St.  Anthony  in  his  cave.  Of 
course  the  range  of  temptation  in  outward  condi- 
tions of  life  takes  a  far  wider  range  than  the  abuse 
of  lawful  things ;  men  are  tempted  by  other  men, 
by  the  general  drift  of  evil,  by  the  success  of  wicked 
or  doubtful  courses,  by  the  ingenious  fascinations 
thrown  around  sin,  and  by  the  acute,  ingenious, 
subtle  excuse  for  it,  which  is  a  prominent  feature 
of  sinning  nowadays. 

And  then,  ah,  then !  in  reserve,  lying  in  wait  be- 
hind all  this  inward  and  outward  form  of  tempta- 
tion, is  solicitation  to  evil  from  the  adversary  of 
our  souls.  The  devil,  I  fear,  has  by  many  been 
dismissed  to  the  limbo  of  exploded  fallacies.  No- 
body seems  much  afraid  of  him.  It  is  an  amazing 
and  extreme  reaction  from  the  belief  of  those  days 
when  Luther  flung  his  inkstand  at  him.  But  how 
solemnly  ever  the  Bible  speaks  of  his  power  as  a 
tempter!  The  Bible  treats  him  as  no  shadowy 
phantom.  And  quite  possibly  the  Bible,  dealing 
as  it  does  with  this  question  of  human  wickedness 
in  its  deep  and  searching  way,  has  quite  as  much 
true  philosophy  on  its  side  as  those  who,  with  some 
airs  of  enlightened  superiority,  remand  the  whole 
question  to  nursery  tales  of  ghosts  and  goblins. 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   223 

How  little  we  may  know  ivlien  we  are  under  his 
power !  Satan  himseK  is  transformed  into  an  angel 
of  light.  At  the  very  moment  when  a  Christian 
may  be  excusing  himself  for  some  questionable  act, 
and  so  deftly  that  his  conscience  gives  not  a  note 
of  warning,  he  may  be  simply  yielding  to  Satan 
transformed.  He  little  knows  what  infernal  power 
of  evil  lurks  in  that  angel  of  light. 

So  compacted,  so  subtle,  so  effective  is  all  this 
triple  system  of  evil,  they  are  a  correlative  and 
moral  force  of  prodigious  power  in  life.  How  shall 
it  be  regarded  f  As  a  dark  and  terrible  e\dl  host 
let  loose  upon  man  here?  As  such,  is  it  to  be 
viewed  by  thoughtful  souls  as  casting  a  baleful  and 
portentous  shadow  over  every  scene  in  life  ?  Is  a 
troubled  and  stealthy  suspicion  to  haunt  us  forever, 
as  we  go  about  in  the  sweet  sunshine  and  among 
the  blessed  companionships  of  life — a  suspicion  that 
every  flower  has  under  it  the  coiled  adder  ?  Must 
a  mother  feel  when  her  son  leaves  the  home  which 
has  so  long  and  so  carefully  sheltered  him  that  he 
goes  out  to  live  under  so  fearful  a  cloud  of  solicita- 
tion to  evil,  and  that  nothing  is  to  be  said  save  that 
it  is  the  grim  and  obstinate  necessity  of  existence ; 
that  it  is  a  somber  and  fearful  mysterv^  of  our  con- 
dition, for  which  there  is  not  only  no  explanation, 
but  for  which  there  is  no  sort  of  alleviation  ?    Or 


224  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

can  tliis  dark  cloud  tiu-n  forth  its  silver  lining  on 
the  night? 

Assuredly  Jesus  Christ  has  put  a  different  face 
upon  temptations.  Vanquished  in  his  strength,  by  the 
power  of  his  grace  they  are  transfigured.  "  Blessed  is 
the  man,"  is  the  voice  of  his  gospel,  "  that  endureth 
temptation :  for  when  he  is  tried,  he  shall  receive 
the  crown  of  life,  which  the  Lord  hath  promised 
to  them  that  love  him."  Seven  times  in  the  opening 
chapters  of  Revelation  does  the  assurance  ring  out, 
'^  to  him  that  overcometh  "  shall  be  given  thrones 
and  dominions,  palms  and  scepters.  A  tempta- 
tion overcome  is  thus  a  temptation  transfigured.  A 
solicitation  to  evil  resisted  has  become  a  glory  to 
the  soul  that  resisted  it.  Its  darkness  has  been 
changed  for  light ;  its  fiery  dart  has  become  a  spir- 
itual scepter;  its  poison  has  become  the  hidden 
manna.  Lose  not  the  cheering  view  which  such 
assurances  give  by  any  notion  that  it  is  true  for 
great  temptations  but  not  for  small ;  true  for  great 
conquerors  of  moral  evil,  but  not  for  lowly  souls 
struggling  in  obscm-ity  against  some  evil  habit, 
some  petulant  temper,  some  selfish  hardness,  some 
miserable  pride,  some  evil  lust.  True  for  one,  then 
true  for  all.  True  for  Jesus  in  the  desert,  true  for 
Jesus'  followers  in  the  home,  in  the  street,  in  the 
stir  of  a  mighty  life,  in  the  silence  of  an  enforced 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION   OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   225 

solitude.  So  Clu-ist  lights  up  for  men  this  whole 
side  of  life.  It  may  have  its  mysteries  still,  and 
at  times  seem  an  impenetrable  cloud.  Still  light 
shines  on  the  cloud.  It  becomes  even  radiant  and 
golden.  Christ  transfigures  temptation  just  as  he 
does  care  and  sorrow.  He  makes  of  it  a  disciphne 
out  of  which  come  strength,  glory,  joy.  At  these 
solemn  junctures  of  our  life  his  grace  comes  in — 
sometimes  a  shield  and  buckler,  sometimes  a  flam- 
ing sword — and  by  its  might  we  are  made  strong 
to  resist  evil.  Nay,  more,  at  these  spiritual  crises 
he  himself,  tempted  once  as  we  are  tempted,  know- 
ing its  anguish,  its  suspense,  its  hoiTors  perhaps,  is 
a  living  Presence  with  us  in  the  thick  of  conflict. 
And  thus  the  transfiguration  comes;  comes  as  it 
came  on  Hermon  of  old.  We  see  white-robed 
saints  who  have  overcome,  shining  in  transfigura- 
tion-glories and  we  hear  the  voice  from  the  Mount, 
and  can  say  even  of  temptation  so  transfigured  by 
Jesus,  ^'  Lord,  it  is  good  to  be  here." 

There  is  yet  a  fourth  transfiguration  of  life 
vouchsafed  the  believer  in  Chiist,  which  as  it  comes 
last  of  all  is  mightiest  of  all.  It  comes  at  the  close. 
It  is  the  transfiguration  of  death  into  eternal  life. 

Sui-ely  even  for  manliest  and  holiest  souls  there 
is  needed  some  such  transfiguration-light  for  death. 
It  is  not  simply  the  pains  of  death,  though  there 


226  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

may  be  in  store  for  us  long  and  acute  anguish.  It 
is  not  simply  the  decay  and  chill  of  the  grave, 
though  every  soul  that  ever  heard  or  read  them 
^must  have  beat  sympathetically  with  Claudio's 
when,  as  great  Shakespeare  voiced  for  all  time  and 
all  men  the  instinctive  shrinking,  he  said : 

''Ay,  but  to  die,  and  go  we  know  not  where; 
To  lie  in  cold  obstruction,  and  to  rot ; 
This  sensible  warm  motion  to  become 
A  kneaded  clod  .  .  . 

.  .  .  'tis  too  horrible  ! 
The  weariest  and  most  loathed  worldly  life 
That  age,  ache,  penury,  or  imprisonment 
Can  lay  on  nature,  is  a  paradise 
To  what  we  fear  of  death." 

It  is  not  the  violent  wrench  from  a  fond,  familiar 
life  where  we  are  at  home  in  the  body,  from  the 
beautiful  world  we  Uve  in  and  love.  It  is  not 
simply  the  entrance  upon  a  state  of  being  to  all 
whose  conditions  we  are  the  utterest  strangers,  of 
which  we  have  heard  so  httle  from  out  the  silences 
of  inspiration  on  the  great  theme.  It  is  not  the 
moral  idea  in  death,  as  the  curse  of  sin,  to  which  we 
all  must  bow.  It  is  aU  this  combined  and  united 
with  the  instinctive  cHnging  to  life,  which  it  takes 
so  terrible  experiences  of  pain  or  misery  or  wildest 
manias  to  overcome,  it  is  all  of  this  put  together 
which  makes  thoughtful  souls  in  bondage  all  their 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   227 

lives  long  tiirougli  fear  of  death.  I  know  there  is 
a  natui-alistic  philosophy  which  affects  indifference 
to  the  subject,  treating  it  simply  as  the  wearing 
out  of  a  machine,  or  the  burning  out  of  the  fii-e.  I 
know  there  is  a  fatalistic  way  of  looking  at  the 
subject  which  affects  to  be  unmoved  by  it  since  the 
hour  is  fixed,  cannot  be  hastened,  cannot  be  de- 
layed. I  know,  on  the  other  hand,  that  some 
Christian  h^onns  are  pitched  in  a  key  of  sentiment- 
alism  on  this  great  subject,  which  virtually  treats 
death  as  if  it  were  less  than  the  amputation  of  a 
limb  by  the  surgeon's  knife.  For  myself,  all  I  can 
say  is  I  cannot  quite  get  to  this  high  pitch.  I  must 
modulate  my  thinking  in  a  lower  key,  and  in  that 
low  and  deep  refrain  of  an  ancient  psalmist  say : 
"  Make  me  to  know  mine  end,  and  the  measure  of 
my  days  what  it  is ;  that  I  may  know  how  frail  I 
am." 

Yet  there  is  a  transfiguration  for  death  which 
comes  through  Christ.  It  comes  first  of  all  in  that 
full  clear  revelation  of  immortality  which  the  world 
had  for  the  first  time  when  Christ  brought  life  and 
immortalit}'  to  light  through  his  Gospel.  Nothing 
shows  the  advance  of  New  upon  Old  Testament 
teaching  like  this.  It  is  the  advance  of  mid-noon 
upon  twilight.  Nothing  shows  the  advance  of  New 
Testament  revelation  upon  aU  philosophy  more  than 


228  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

this.  Here  it  is  the  advance  of  reality  upon  con- 
jecture, or  of  certainty  upon  probability,  or  of  per- 
sonal knowledge  upon  hopes  or  expectations.  For 
a  clear,  bright,  blessed  revelation  of  immortality 
instantly  transfigures  death.  Then  it  is  not  the 
be-all  and  the  end-aJl  here.  Then  it  is  not  anni- 
hilation, not  decay  and  nothingness.  There  is  be- 
yond it  the  hght  of  life,  the  life  eternal.  That 
light  transfigures  death. 

We  may  not  stop  here.  Christ's  revelation  is 
not  merely  general.  He  has  had  a  few  things  to 
say  about  the  great  theme.  Few  as  they  are,  they 
change  the  whole  aspect  of  the  subject.  If  we  had 
only  his  words  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  it  would 
be  enough  to  make  death  luminous  forever  with 
strange,  unearthly  light.  Jesus  said  to  Martha,  "  I 
am  the  resurrection,  and  the  life :  he  that  believeth 
in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live :  and 
whosoever  liveth  and  beheveth  in  me  shall  never 
die.  Believest  thou  this?"  If  you  can  say  with 
Martha,  "Yea,  Lord,  I  believe,"  then  is  death  trans- 
figured into  Hfe. 

But  a  more  subduing  because  a  more  familiar 
and  closer  teaching  of  his  is  found  in  his  words 
to  the  disciples:  '^In  my  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions."  And  here,  what  gives  these 
few  simple  words  theii-  marvelous  power  to  light 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   229 

up  this  great  subject  of  the  future  existence  is 
his  added  word  of  assurance,  "If  it  were  not  so, 
I  would  have  told  you."  There  is  an  artless  sim- 
plicity here  which  is  unique  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ.  What  an  appeal  to  the  confidence  of  his 
followers!  I  could  better  part  with  any  of  his 
miracles  than  with  these  few  words,  on  which 
Christ  has  staked  his  sunple  truthfuhiess.  "  If  it 
were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you."  If  what  were 
not  so  ?  Why,  if  his  disciples  were  not  to  be  in  his 
Father's  house,  and  if  he  were  not  to  receive  them 
to  himself  as  one  by  one  they  passed  from  death 
into  life. 

And  yet  we  do  not  enter  into  the  fullness  of 
Christ's  transfigm-ation  of  death  till  his  own  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  has  been  thoroughly  medi- 
tated. Not  as  the  crowning  proof  of  his  divine 
ministry  and  sacrifice.  It  is  an  evidence  of  Chris- 
tianity which  has  been  the  bulwark  against  which 
every  wave  of  skepticism  has  dashed  and  broken. 
But  it  is  vastly  more  than  this.  It  is  the  holy 
certitude  that  his  f oUowers  rise  with  him  into  the 
eternal  glors'.  In  his  resurrection,  that  of  believers 
is  contained  as  pledge  and  prophecy.  So  St.  Paul 
mainly  teaches  us  in  that  sublime  reach  of  inspired 
truth  given  us  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  First 
Corinthians,  which  comes  to  its  climax  of  mean- 


230  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

ing  and  of  glorious  joy  in  his  outburst,  "  Death  is 
swallowed  up  in  \dctor}\"  Nor,  indeed,  do  we  reach 
the  completeness  of  meaning  in  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  till  we  couple  with  it  that  posthumous  min- 
istry of  forty  days.  The  two  are  parts  of  one 
divine  whole.  How  di\dnely  that  ministry  teaches 
us  that  death  has  not  sundered  the  old  relations ! 
Christ  takes  them  up  again.  That  soul-subduing 
interview  with  Thomas,  that  fruitful  and  tender 
dealing  with  Peter  by  the  shore  of  the  lake,  how 
luminous  with  the  blessed  assurance  that  death  has 
no  power  to  uproot  the  affections  and  the  warm, 
sweet  relations  of  our  himian  earthly  life !  Had 
Hermon  a  mightier  and  more  sacred  transfigura- 
tion than  this  ?  Nay,  is  it  not  the  glory  of  Her- 
mon's  transfiguration  that  it  proclaims  forever  the 
interest  of  departed  saints  in  the  scenes  now  enact- 
ing on  earth?  For  Moses  and  Ehas  spake  with 
him  of  the  decease  he  should  shortly  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem.  What  was  death  to  Moses  as  then  and 
there  he  spake  with  Christ  ?  It  was  the  memory, 
dim  and  distant,  of  a  brief  struggle.  It  was  the 
shining  gate  through  which  he  had  passed  in  the 
soHtude  of  Nebo  to  the  society  and  blessedness  of 
heaven.  It  was  the  transfiguration  of  a  bitter  dis- 
appointment in  not  seeing  the  earthly  Canaan  into 
the  fulfillment  of  a  more  glorious  hope — the  bea- 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST   231 

tific  vision  of  the  heavenly  Canaan.  And  so  Christ 
transfigures  death.  The  curse  for  sin— it  is  swal- 
lowed up  in  victory.  The  mortal  pang— it  be- 
comes the  everlasting  felicity.  The  departure  from 
this  life— it  is  the  entrance  upon  life  eternal. 

Yet  most  evidently  such  transfiguration  of  life's 
cares  and  sorrows  have  not  come  to  all  disciples. 
It  lies  among  the  unrealized  possibilities  of  Chris- 
tian experience.     It  has  its  own  method.     It  is 
reached  in  one  way,  by  one  process  of  spiritual 
life.     How,  then,  may  life  thus  be  transfigured  for 
me  in  Christ,  so  that  under  aU  its  burdens,  and 
amid  all  its  sorrows  and  temptations,  and  in  full 
view  of  the  gi-ave  which  awaits  me  at  its  close,  I 
may  yet  always  be  the  .glad  disciple,  my  whole  soul 
radiant  with  joy  in  the  existence  here  ?    The  text 
points  out  the  secret  of  this  marvelous  result.     How 
did  Christ's  own  transfiguration  come  about?    ^As 
he  prayed,  the   fashion  of   his    countenance  was 
altered."    As  he  prayed.     It  seems  to  be  implied  in 
this  that  it  was  no  sudden  outburst  of  glory  from 
the  opened  gates  of  heaven,  but  a  gradual  envelop- 
ment and  transformation  while  he  was  praying. 
It  was  nightfall.     Silence  was  in  the  heavens  above 
and  on  the  hiUs  around.    And  in  that  silence  and 
darkness  Christ  began  his  communion  with  God. 
The  longing  is  irrepressible   to  know  what  this 


232  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

prayer  of  Jesus  covered,  what  petitions,  what 
blessed  fellowship  with  his  Father.  But  all  we 
know  is  that  as  he  prayed  and  his  soul  was  more 
and  more  rapt  in  his  heavenly  communion,  the 
transcendent  scene  began,  at  first  all  unnoticed  by 
his  disciples ;  and  then,  as  the  strange,  unearthly 
light  began  stealing  over  Jesus  and  the  mountain- 
top,  and  the  fashion  of  his  countenace  was  altered, 
his  garments  glistening  more  and  more,  the  fullness 
of  transfiguration-glory  is  reached  in  the  appear- 
ance of  Moses  and  Ehas  with  him  on  that  Mount 
of  a  more  splendid  theophany  than  ever  had 
gleamed  from  the  Shekinah  of  old.  The  transfigu- 
ration came  to  Christ  in  prayer.  So  if  life  is  ever 
transfigured  from  its  hard,  dull  reahty,  its  burdens 
and  woes,  its  secret  griefs  or  coming  shadows,  into 
any  deep,  glad,  spiritual  meaning,  and  the  glory  of 
Christ  shines  down  into  our  very  sorrows  and  temp- 
tations, it  will  be  because  we  have  learned  how  to 
pray  in  some  deep  devotion,  in  some  holy  altitude 
of  spiritual  retirement.  Was  not  life  transfigured 
for  the  Psalmist  when  tears  had  been  his  meat  day 
and  night,  when  all  God's  waves  and  billows  had 
gone  over  him,  yet  when  in  the  voice  of  holy  psalm 
he  could  say,  "  Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul  ? 
and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me?  Hope 
thou  in  God:   for  I  shall  yet  praise  him,  who  is 


THE   TRANSFIGURATION  OF  LIFE  BY  CHRIST.   233 

the  health  of  my  countenance,  and  my  God."  Was 
not  life  transfigured  for  Paul  when,  imder  the  heavy 
burden  of  an  unknown  and  tormenting  agony,  he 
besought  the  Lord  thrice  that  it  might  depart  from 
him,  and  came  to  say  at  length,  ''Most  gladly, 
therefore,  will  I  glory  in  my  infirmities."  Infii'mity, 
anguish,  changed  into  glory.  The  secret  of  the 
matter  lies  in  this,  prayer  puts  things  for  us  in  new 
light.  We  see  through  prayer  what  else  were  hid- 
den from  our  sight.  It  is  heavenly  light.  And 
then  in  us,  as  in  the  person  of  Christ,  the  change 
comes  too.  We  see  with  new  eyes — eyes  of  faith 
and  love  and  submission  and  hope.  So  has  Trench 
sung  in  a  choice  Christian  sonnet : 

"  Lord,  what  a  change  within  us  one  short  hour 
Spent  in  thy  presence  will  avail  to  make ' 
What  heavy  burdens  from  our  bosoms  take  ! 
What  parched  fields  refresh  as  with  a  shower ! 
We  kneel,  and  all  around  us  seems  to  tower ; 
We  rise,  and  all,  the  distant  and  the  near, 
Stands  forth  in  sunny  outlines  brave  and  clear. 
We  kneel,  how  weak ;  we  rise,  how  full  of  power ! " 

0  Christian,  if  thou  wouldst  have  more  of  such 
transfigurations  in  life,  seek  them  in  prayer.  Let 
Hermon  take  its  place  in  your  Christian  experience. 
Without  such  a  transfiguration,  life,  and  life  made 
the  most  and  best  of,  will  only  prove  fantastic 
mockery,  as  well  as  fearful  myster}\     It  will  be  all 


234  PROFESSOR  MURRAY. 

that  pessimism  paints  it  for  delusion  and  woe.     It 

will  be  what  Macbeth  said  it  was  to  him  in  his  hour 

of  crime  and  desolation : 

"...  A  tale 
Told  by  an  idiot,  full  of  sound  and  fury, 
Signifying  nothing." 

But  with  such  a  transfiguration,  life  with  all  its 
cares  and  sorrows  and  temptations,  its  woes  and 
aches  and  death,  becomes  an  existence  measureless 
in  its  possibilities  of  disciplined  character,  exalted 
service,  exuberant  gladness,  immortal  hopes,  and 
finally  eternal  fruition. 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.* 

By  Prof.  William  Henry  Green,  D.D,  LL.D. 
you  like  meny — 1  Cor.  16 :  13. 


TT  was  the  habit  of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  crown 
-^  the  doctrinal  discussion  in  the  body  of  his 
epistles  with  a  practical  application  at  the  end,  in 
which  he  urged  upon  his  readers  the  obhgations^ 
involved  in  the  doctrines  which  they  had  been  con- 
sidering. This  suggests  the  propriety  of  a  like 
practical  application  to  ourselves  of  the  studies  in 
which  we  have  been  engaged  during  the  seminary 
year  that  is  now  closing.  The  Apostle  in  the  text 
sums  up  for  us  in  a  single  word  the  deduction  to 
be  made  alike  from  the  theological,  the  bibhcal,  the 
historical,  and  the  ecclesiastical  studies  which  we 
have  been  pursuing — dvdpt^soOe,  Qiiit  you  lilce  men. 
An  injunction  to  men  to  act  as  men  seems  sin- 
gular at  first  view.  How  else  could  they  act? 
How  can  they  be  anything  but  what  they  are? 
Every  substance  in  the  universe  is  what  it  is,  and 

*  Preached  on  the  closing  Sabbath  of  the  seminary  term. 
235 


236  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

acts  agreeably  to  the  laws  of  its  being.  Every 
atom  of  oxygen  acts  uniformly  as  oxygen.  Every 
plant  and  every  animal  is  obedient  to  the  law  of  its 
constitution.  How,  then,  can  it  be  necessary  to 
enjoin  it  upon  men  to  be  men  and  to  quit  them- 
selves like  men  ? 

There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  In  the  first  place 
man  is  not,  like  the  inferior  creation,  subject  to  the 
control  of  physical  necessity.  Inanimate  nature  is 
under  a  constraint  which  binds  it  to  unvarying 
uniformity  of  action;  the  specific  properties  of 
matter  assert  themselves  with  endless  constancy. 
The  lower  animals  are  governed  by  their  native 
instinct ;  they  are  led  by  blind  impulse  to  do  what 
their  nature  requires.  Man  is  possessed  of  reason 
and  of  choice.  No  invariable  force  determines  for 
him  the  employment  of  his  powers  or  the  direction 
of  his  life.  If  he  would  be  a  man  indeed,  he  must 
make  this  his  definite  aim  and  must  employ  suit- 
able endeavors.  He  must  by  a  faithful  course  of 
self -discipline  develop  his  powers  to  the  full  and  in 
the  right  direction ;  and  he  must  by  their  skiUful 
use  attain  to  the  mastery  and  proper  handling  of 
them  if  he  would  make  of  himseK  what  he  is  meant 
to  be,  and  what  he  is  capable  of  becoming.  Since 
this  is  a  result  which  does  not  follow  of  itself,  and 
is  only  to  be  attained,  if  at  all,  by  seeking  and  toil- 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  237 

ing,  it  is  well  that  he  should  be  reminded  of  what 
is  herein  dependent  upon  himself. 

And,  in  the  second  place,  it  is  still  more  requisite 
that  this  should  be  done  when  we  remember  the 
influences  that  are  at  work  within  him  and  aroimd 
him  to  degrade  his  nature  and  to  frustrate  the  end 
of  his  existence.  The  corruption  inherited  from 
the  fall  has  perverted  his  faculties  and  turned 
them  away  from  their  true  end.  The  temptations 
and  solicitations  which  beset  him  on  every  hand 
bewilder  and  confuse  his  mind,  and  create  an  eager 
appetite  for  everything  but  that  which  he  should 
desire  and  strive  after.  The  aim  of  the  text  is  to 
break  the  spell  of  this  unworthy  fascination  by 
reminding  men  of  their  tnie  nature  and  capabili- 
ties, that  thus,  instead  of  sinking  to  the  level  of 
what  is  so  -far  beneath  them,  they  may,  if  possible, 
be  induced  to  "  quit  themselves  like  men." 

The  appeal  of  the  text  addresses  itself  to  all,  and 
is  of  the  most  powerful  and  stimulating  character. 
It  is  no  arbitrary  requirement  to  which  you  are 
exhorted  to  submit.  It  is  nothing  alien  and  uncon- 
genial, as  though  you  were  bidden  to  put  on  some 
outlandish  garb  or  wear  some  ill-fitting  di*ess  which 
offended  your  sense  of  propriety  or  hampered  the 
fi'ee  movement  of  your  limbs.  Nor  does  it  simply 
urge  the  claims  of  duty,  the  abstract  law  of  right, 


238  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 


% 


what  ought  to  be  done  at  whatever  sacrifice  of  in- 
chnation.  But  it  may  be  expected  to  enlist  every 
human  sympathy,  and  to  bring  to  its  aid  every 
generous  impulse,  since  its  summons  is  that  you 
should  be  true  to  yourself  and  to  your  own  nature. 
Evoke  your  dormant  energies ;  put  forth  the  powers 
that  are  within  you ;  stifle  not  the  noble  emotions 
that  stir  your  breast  j  act  up  to  your  real  capacity ; 
fulfill  your  own  high  conceptions  and  aspirations; 
achieve  results  worthy  of  yourself,  such  as  you  can 
review  with  satisfaction  and  expose  to  others  with- 
out shame.  The  text  bids  you  to  be  thus  a  law  to 
yourself.  With  what  a  charge  you  have  been  in- 
trusted in  being  made  a  free  agent — a  charge  that 
you  can  neither  surrender  nor  evade  !  How  vast 
and  unimagined  is  that  which  has  been  put  within 
your  own  control  in  your  being  made  master  of 
yourseK !  What  noble  faculties,  what  fine  suscep- 
tibiUties,  what  magnificent  opportunities,  what  pos- 
sibilities of  high  achievement,  what  ends  may  be 
attained,  what  acquisitions  made,  what  treasures 
amassed,  what  a  destiny  secured,  if  you  will  but 
quit  yourselves  like  men ! 

It  adds  to  the  power  of  this  appeal  that  it  is  also 
adapted  to  provoke  a  generous  emulation,  and  that 
upon  the  broadest  and  most  comprehensive  scale. 
It  is  not  limited  to  that  which  concerns  ourselves 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  239 


merely  as  individuals,  but  is  addressed  to  the 
nature  which  we  possess  in  common  with  the  whole 
human  race.  In  bidding  us  to  quit  ourselves  like 
men  it  arrays  before  us  all  that  men  are  and  have 
been,  all  that  they  can  do  and  have  done ;  every- 
thing in  the  character  or  conduct  of  any  of  our 
fellow-men  that  kindles  enthusiasm  or  deserves  our 
admiration ;  all  that  is  wise  and  good  and  noble 
and  brave ;  every  worthy  enterprise,  every  deed  of 
heroism  or  of  philanthropy ;  patient  toil,  unselfish 
love,  gentle,  thoughtful  kindness,  upright  discharge 
of  duty,  firm  adherence  to  the  right,  every  exhibi- 
tion of  manly  qualities  in  any  department  of 
human  action,  on  any  plane  of  life,  on  whatever 
scale  of  magnitude,  in  great  things  or  in  small, 
conspicuous  or  unobserved — aU  is  here  gathered 
up  in  one  mighty  argument  and  set  before  us  for 
our  imitation. 

An  appeal  is  sometimes  pointed  by  comparison 
with  inferior  natures.  Men  are  shamed  out  of 
their  inactivity  by  the  direction,  Go  to  the  ant, 
thou  sluggard;  and  out  of  their  stupid  disregard 
of  their  Creator  by  the  reflection  that  the  ox 
knoweth  his  owner;  and  out  of  their  inconsid- 
eration  by  the  fact  that  the  stork  in  the  heaven 
knoweth  her  appointed  times.  But  there  is  a 
reproach  inseparable  from  such  an  argument,  and 


240  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

an  implied  ceusm-e,  whicli,  while  it  goads  to  duty, 
nevertheless  leaves  a  sting.  There  is  no  such 
damaging  impUcation  when  the  text  would  rouse 
us  to  a  sense  of  what  we  may  become  or  what  we 
may  achieve  by  the  thought  of  what  others  of  our 
own  species  have  shown  themselves  able  to  attain 
or  to  perform. 

It  has  its  advantage  also  over  appeals  which  are 
sometimes  made  with  great  power  to  particular 
classes :  as  when  they  who  are  entering  into  battle 
are  bidden  to  demean  themselves  like  soldiers  j  or 
they  who  are  set  to  conduct  a  nation's  affairs  to  act 
like  statesmen ;  or  they  who  are  engaged  in  pecu- 
niary transactions  to  behave  like  honest  men;  or 
they  who  are  in  a  position  to  reflect  honor  or  dis- 
credit upon  their  country  to  remember  that  they 
are  Americans.  The  argument  of  the  text  loses 
none  of  the  stimulus  of  these  more  special  appeals 
and  abates  nothing  of  their  urgency,  but  embraces 
them  all  with  undiminished  cogency  within  itseK ; 
and,  gathering  the  full  impetus  that  is  to  be  derived 
from  every  quarter,  directs  its  entire  concentrated 
energy  upon  the  line  of  each  individual  life.  It  is 
not  only  from  those  whose  course  is  parallel  to  our 
own  that  we  are  to  derive  an  impulse,  those  who 
move  in  the  same  sphere  or  in  similar  circum- 
stances, who  are  engaged  in  kindred  pursuits  or 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  241 

have  common  aims  j  the  appeal  is  to  the  sentiment 
of  a  common  human  nature.  Everything  that  re- 
veals the  capabilities  of  that  natui-e,  wherever  it 
may  be  found,  has  its  meaning  and  its  force  for 
me.  The  peasant  may  teach  the  prince ;  the  child 
may  give  a  lesson  to  the  man  of  hoaiy  haii's,  the 
untutored  savage  to  the  sage.  Admirable  qualities 
shown  anjrwhere  within  the  range  of  human  experi- 
ence suggest  to  us  that  the  same  may  be  trans- 
planted into  our  hves^  and  may  be  exhibited  only 
with  altered  circumstances  and  conditions  in  our 
daily  walk.  Martyrs  and  heroes^  the  good  and  the 
great  of  every  age  and  of  every  clime,  were  of  the 
same  stock  and  possessed  the  same  humanity  with 
ourselves.  They  show  the  stuff  of  which  we  were 
made ;  and  they  call  upon  us  to  be  in  our  particular 
Hne  of  life  what  they  were  in  theirs. 

And  even  misdirected  powers  show  a  nature 
splendid  in  its  ruins,  which,  if  the  perversion  were 
removed,  might  well  engender  a  holy  emulation. 
Zeal  misguided  is  still  zeal,  which  would  have  been 
praiseworthy  if  balanced  and  moUified  by  love  and 
shown  in  the  cause  of  truth.  Toils  endured  and 
sacrifices  made  for  ignoble  ends  may  rouse  to  vigor- 
ous effort  those  who  are  laboring  with  higher  aims. 
Thus,  we  may  learn  lessons  of  honor  from  shame, 
wisdom  from  folly,  virtue  from  vice,  the  right  use 


242  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

of  faculties  from  their  prostitution  and  abuse.  We 
may  bow  to  the  banner  that  is  here  uplifted,  even 
when  we  see  it  trailing  in  the  dustj  and  in  the 
picture  that  is  all  soiled  and  begrimed  we  may  dis- 
cover the  strength  and  the  beauty  that  he  hidden 
under  the  foul  stains  which  deface  it. 

And  the  universahty  of  the  appeal  made  in  the 
text  is  attended  mth  another  consequence,  which 
further  enhances  its  value.  It  embraces  within  its 
scope  the  whole  range  of  human  obhgation.  It  is 
not  directed  merely  to  some  one  specific  duty  or 
class  of  duties.  This  one  injunction  includes  with- 
in it  all  that  is  incumbent  at  all  times,  under  aU 
circumstances,  and  in  every  relation.  Act  as  men  j 
do  what  your  nature  summons  you  to  do.  It  sets 
before  us  as  the  standard  and  measure  of  our  duty 
not  merely  what  is  peculiar  to  ourselves  individu- 
ally, nor  merely  what  has  been  in  actual  fact  ex- 
emplified by  others,  but  the  totaUty  of  human 
nature — man  as  he  was  made  by  his  Creator,  and 
as  he  was  fitted  and  designed  to  be. 

If  we  should  put  together  all  the  capabihties  that 
men  have  ever  shown,  and  all  the  excellences  that 
they  have  exhibited,  aU  that  men  have  ever  done 
that  is  worthy  of  imitation,  this  would  indeed  cover 
a  very  wide  range,  and  a  most  exalted  mark  would 
thus  be  set  before  us.     But  if  there  be  any  capacity 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  243 

in  human  nature  that  has  never  yet  found  full  ex- 
pression, if  there  be  any  reserve  of  force  that  has 
not  been  brought  into  adequate  and  thorough 
emplo^Tnent,  and  especially  if  any  damage  has 
infected  our  nature,  or  any  paralysis  come  over  its 
powers,  so  that  at  its  best  it  falls  sadly  below  its 
primal  estate  and  fails  to  reveal  itseK  in  its  genuine 
and  native  character,  then  the  charge  of  the  text 
reaches  back  of  these  impaired  faculties  and  their 
enfeebled  manifestations  to  man  in  the  genuine  and 
proper  sense,  to  man  in  full  possession  of  all  that 
properly  belongs  to  him,  man  in  the  full  vigor  of 
his  original  constitution,  with  his  native  force  un- 
broken, subject  to  no  weakness  nor  malady,  un- 
tainted by  sin,  his  nature  undepraved.  It  is  man 
as  he  should  be,  the  divine  ideal  of  manhood,  which 
the  Apostle  would  set  before  us  when  he  bids  us, 
"  quit  you  like  men." 

The  meaning  of  this  exhortation  to  any  person 
to  whom  it  may  be  addressed  will  be  chiefly  depend- 
ent on  two  things.  The  first  is  the  conception  that 
he  has  of  manhood.  ^^Quit  you  like  men"  in  a 
heroic  age  would  be  interpreted  as  demanding 
personal  bravery ;  by  the  sensualist,  as  summoning 
to  the  utmost  self-indulgence ;  by  the  Stoic,  as  re- 
quiring superiority  to  adverse  circumstances.  It 
means  one  thing  to  the  rude  savage  and  another  to 


244  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

the  polished  courtier.  It  means  one  thing  to  the 
materialist,  to  whom  this  world  is  all,  and  a  very 
different  thing  to  him  who  has  grasped  the  idea  of 
his  immortality.  In  the  mouth  of  the  Apostle  it 
derives  its  signification  from  the  Christian  idea  of 
manhood :  man  made  in  the  image  of  God ;  fallen, 
indeed,  but  redeemed;  fashioned  anew  after  the 
likeness  of  Christ,  with  all  the  possibihties  that  are 
set  before  him  by  the  dehvering  power  of  the 
Gospel,  the  heavenly  aids  that  are  afforded,  and 
the  glorious  destiny  that  is  promised.  This  is 
what  filled  his  thoughts  when  he  bid  us,  "  quit  you 
like  men." 

The  second  consideration  which  may  modify  the 
meaning  of  the  exhortation  before  us  is  the  sphere 
of  action  referred  to  and  the  scope  which  it  affords 
for  manly  qualities  to  display  themselves.  Human 
characteristics  must  have  an  occasion  for  their 
manifestation.  Statesmanship  cannot  be  developed 
at  jackstraws.  Fortitude  cannot  be  shown  when 
there  is  nothing  to  endure,  nor  courage  in  a  time 
of  profound  peace,  nor  compassion  where  suffering 
and  want  do  not  exist,  nor  fidelity  by  him  to  whom 
nothing  has  been  intrusted.  A  position,  if  such  an 
one  could  be  found,  which  gave  no  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  manly  qualities  would  stunt  and 
dwarf  our  manhood.     The  Apostle  in  uttering  his 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  245 

exhortation  contemplated  a  sphere  of  action  which 
is  adapted  to  elicit  manly  qualities  in  the  highest 
degree  and  afford  them  the  largest  possible  scope 
for  their  operation. 

In  further  unfolding  the  meaning  of  the  text  let 
us  consider  the  style  of  manliness  which  it  requires, 
and  the  scope  for  its  manifestation  under  various 
particulars. 

1.  The  Gospel  approves  and  enjoins  manliness 
in  all  the  affairs  of  every-day  life,  even  the  most 
ordinary  and  trivial.  The  injunction  of  the  text 
is  valid  in  everything  we  do  hour  by  hour  and 
moment  by  moment.  We  should  be  under  the 
sway  of  Christian  principle  as  thoroughly  when  we 
are  engaged  in  the  most  trifling  and  indifferent 
matters  as  when  we  address  ourselves  to  those  that 
are  the  gravest  and  most  momentous.  The  spirit 
of  the  Gospel  is  an  all-pervasive  force ;  not  inter- 
mittent, as  though  it  bounded  from  mountain-peak 
to  mountain-peak,  touching  only  the  summits  of 
our  lives,  the  loftier  points  which  project  above  the 
ordinary  level  of  our  daily  routine  5  but,  like  the 
atmosphere,  it  wraps  the  whole  with  a  continuous 
and  uniform  pressure,  resting  on  plain  and  valley 
as  well  as  hill- top,  enveloping  alike  with  its  gentle 
and  insinuating  touch  every  blade  of  grass  and 
twig  and  grain  of  sand,  and  penetrating  every  tiny 


246  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

nook  and  crevice  with  the  same  persistent  energy 
as  it  holds  in  its  embrace  the  vast  globe  of  the  earth 
itself. 

We  cannot  sunder  the  httle  and  the  great  in  oui- 
hves,  and,  careless  of  the  former,  limit  the  realm 
of  duty  and  of  obligation  to  the  latter.  Our  lives 
include  a  great  multitude  of  little  acts  and  scenes, 
each  of  which  taken  singly  and  by  itself  appears  to 
be  only  of  slight  consequence,  but  which,  viewed  in 
the  aggregate,  assume  great  importance,  since  they 
are  the  constituent  elements  which  make  up  the 
mass  and  determine  the  quahty  of  the  whole. 
Character  is  shown  in  these  little  things  as  the 
direction  and  force  of  the  wind  is  shown  by  straws. 
We  reveal  what  we  are  in  om*  unguarded  moments ; 
and  we  do  so  all  the  more  truly  and  distinctly  that, 
when  we  are  off  our  guard,  our  inmost  disposition 
has  unchecked  sway.  The  man  who  even  occasion- 
ally is  mean,  overbearing,  slovenly,  discourteous,  or 
ungenerous  in  what  he  may  account  the  veriest 
trifles  must  not  be  sui-prised  if  it  is  imputed  to  him 
and  remembered  against  him  as  betraying  a  radical 
defect,  which  even  conspicuous  excellences  cannot 
efface.  The  person  who  indulges  his  talent  for 
mimicry  or  his  fondness  for  a  joke,  even  on  trivial 
occasions,  to  the  disregard  of  the  feehngs  of  a 
friend,  or  of  honest  and  fair  deahng,  lays  himself 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  247 

open  to  the  inference  that  he  is  not  dominated  by 
the  law  of  love  and  of  truth. 

Honor  and  uprightness  can  be  shown  even  in 
sports.  There  is  no  excuse  for  ungentlemanly 
conduct  anywhere.  No  one  professing  to  be 
Christ's  should  be  other  than  manly,  generous,  and 
noble  at  all  times,  and  free  from  even  the  suspicion 
of  what  is  mean,  dishonorable,  or  unworthy  of  a 
true  man.  Discreditable  behavior  brings  a  re- 
proach upon  the  Christian  character  and  affixes  a 
stigma  to  the  Christian  name  which  he  has  no  right 
to  place  there.  And  it  is  all  the  more  inexcusable, 
as  the  occasions  are  petty,  that  he  should  dishonor 
his  Master  and  damage  religion  in  the  estimate  of 
men  for  so  slight  a  cause. 

The  Christian  assui*edly  should  not  fall  below 
men  of  the  world  in  what  is  honorable  and  deco- 
rous, in  all  that  ennobles  and  adorns  character  and 
life.  Nay,  he  is  bound  to  rise  above  them  in  these 
very  respects,  in  which  worldly  men  most  pride  and 
felicitate  themselves.  As  the  Christian  has  more 
exalted  aims  and  higher  motives  and  purer  springs 
of  action  and  heavenly  aids,  his  whole  life  should 
be  of  a  nobler  mold,  and  more  free  from  those  de- 
plorable petty  wealinesses  which  so  often  stain  lives 
otherwise  excellent  and  destroy  much  of  their 
power  for  good. 


248  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

The  Gospel  spreads  its  hallowed  influence  over 
us  every  moment.  The  attraction  of  the  cross,  like 
the  attraction  of  the  sun,  permeates  all  things  alike, 
and  holds  atom  and  world  in  its  noiseless  yet 
powerful  grasp.  The  great  spiritual  realities  are 
ever  real  and  should  be  ever  operative.  One  grand 
motive,  "  for  Christ's  sake,"  should  rule  in  every  act 
and  thought,  and  never  for  an  instant  be  disre- 
garded. We  are  bidden,  whether  we  eat  or  drink 
or  whatever  we  do,  to  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God. 
We  are  reminded  that  for  every  idle  word  we  speak 
we  must  give  account  at  the  day  of  judgment.  The 
Christian  spirit  should  be  infused  into  every^thing  j 
Christian  motives  should  govern  ever^^thing;  the 
law  of  the  Christian  life  should  give  form  to  every- 
thing. 

Not  that  we  should  make  no  distinction  of  time 
and  place,  or  that  we  should  act  everywhere  as  if 
we  were  in  church.  The  varied  scenes  of  life  are 
not  to  be  met  by  one  unvarying  rigidity  of  de- 
meanor. The  Christian  may  unbend  as  well  as  other 
men.  There  is  no  reason  why  he  should  repress 
innocent  mirth.  He  may  have  his  seasons  of  rec- 
reation and  of  exuberant  spirits.  He  need  not  be 
constantly  oppressed  by  the  sense  of  the  awful  and 
the  infinite,  much  less  perpetually  wear  a  solemn- 
faced  visage,  as  though  it  were  a  merit  never  to 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  249 

smile.  But  he  can  be  pure  and  truthful  and  rever- 
ential and  kind  at  all  times.  He  can  make  the 
golden  rule  of  Christ,  which  is  the  secret  of  the 
truest  politeness  and  of  gentlemanly  conduct,  his 
perpetual  law.  He  can  constantly  have  his  heai't 
full  of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  of  love  to  men,  which 
shall  dignify  and  sweeten  his  whole  demeanor, 
which  shall  be  the  underlying  stratum  that  sup- 
ports and  shapes  the  whole  exterior  surface  of  his 
life,  and  which  without  perpetually  obtruding  itself 
nevertheless  crops  out  in  all  appropriate  times  and 
ways. 

There  is  a  divine  and  holy  art  in  which  some 
have  made  high  attainments  greatly  to  be  envied, 
and  which  is  worth  pains  and  effort  and  cu-cum- 
spection  to  acquii-e,  which  adjusts  the  Christian 
character  with  dignity  and  grace  to  all  the  exi- 
gencies of  our  daily  life,  and  T\dthout  moping  on 
the  one  hand  or  frivolity  on  the  other  maintains 
the  purity  and  consistency  of  a  Chi-istian  walk 
along  with  all  that  is  engaging  and  sprightly  and 
attractive  in  ordinaiy  intercourse;  which  is  ever 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  at  the  same  time 
overflows  with  what  is  kindly  and  generous  and 
sweet  in  human  companionship;  and  which  is  a 
perpetual  commendation  of  the  Gospel  by  exhibit- 
ing the  true  style  of  manliness,  which  it  is  fitted  to 


250  PROFESSOR   GREEN. 

produce.  This  is  what  the  Apostle  enjoins  upon 
us  when  in  the  common  affairs  of  life  he  bids  us, 
"  quit  you  like  men." 

2.  True  manliness  requires  that  a  man  should  be 
a  Christian.  We  respect  manliness  of  character 
wherever  shown,  in  earthly  things  and  in  the  com- 
mon intercourse  of  men.  But  we  cannot  refrain 
from  saying  to  those  who  limit  it  to  the  concerns 
of  this  life,  that  their  manliness  is  seriously  defect- 
ive and  incomplete  5  that  there  is  a  disharmony  in 
their  hfe  and  conduct,  one  part  standing  in  glaring 
contrast  with  the  other  and  writing  its  condemna- 
tion. They  recognize  the  propriety  of  the  honor- 
able and  upright  discharge  of  all  that  is  tucumbent 
in  their  human  relations,  but  fail  to  meet  the  same 
when  they  are  transferred  to  a  higher  sphere  and 
far  more  sacred  obligations  are  involved.  They 
would  spurn  the  thought  of  being  insensible  to 
favors  received  from  earthly  benefactors,  and  yet 
set  at  naught  the  abounding  grace  and  love  of  their 
heavenly  Friend.  Priding  themselves  upon  their 
punctilious  integrity,  they  withhold  from  the  Most 
High  that  which  is  his  due.  Nothing  shocks  them 
more  than  the  unfilial  behavior  of  a  child,  though 
themselves  utterly  undutiful  to  their  Father  in 
heaven.  They  regard  with  contempt  the  man  who 
wastes  his  life  on  trifles,  while  yet  they  employ  their 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  251 

own  immortal  powers  on  things  that  perish  with 
the  using.  The  lesson  of  the  text  to  sneh  is  that 
not  only  in  things  seen  and  temporal,  but  also  in 
those  that  are  unseen  and  eternal,  they  should  quit 
themselves  like  men. 

3.  The  Apostle  enjoins  upon  us  manliness  in  the 
Christian  life.  In  the  exercise  of  grace,  in  the  dis- 
charge of  Christian  duty,  quit  you  like  men.  A 
due  regard  to  our  manhood  not  only  requires  that 
we  should  be  Christians,  but  that  we  should  be 
manly  Christians  -,  that  we  should  not  content  our- 
selves with  a  merely  nominal  Christianity,  or  with 
a  pusillanimous  and  ignoble  Christianity,  but  that 
our  spiritual  faculties  should  be  duly  exercised  and 
in  full  vigor,  and  that  our  spu-itual  life  should  be 
upon  a  plane  woi*thy  of  the  nature  which  God  has 
given  us.  That  we  may  the  better  comprehend 
what  is  thus  demanded  of  us,  let  us  briefly  glance 
at  some  of  those  qualities  which  should  characterize 
our  religion. 

(1)  Manly  strength  and  courage.  There  is  a 
demand  in  the  Christian  life  for  the  highest  quali- 
ties of  soul.  There  are  tasks  which  must  be  per- 
formed with  energy  and  perseverance.  There  are 
foes  that  must  be  met  with  unshrinking  intrepidity 
and  stout  resistance.  There  are  hardships  which 
must  be  borne  with  patience  and  unmurmuring 


252  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

foi-titude.  Soft  effeminacy  or  childish  wea,kness 
and  timidity  will  not  answer  in  the  Christian  ranks. 
By  the  cross  to  the  crown,  through  suffering  to 
glory,  is  the  path  that  was  trodden  by  Jesus  and  to 
which  he  summons  us.  Native  strength  is  here 
inadequate.  It  is  perfect  weakness.  We  need  the 
strength  which  God  alone  suppUes.  "He  giveth 
power  to  the  faint ;  and  to  them  that  have  no  might 
he  increaseth  strength."  The  stripling  David  can 
in  his  name  encounter  his  giant  adversar}\  Babes 
in  Christ,  as  was  fabled  of  the  infant  Hercules, 
strangle  the  old  serpent.  It  is  required  of  them 
that  they  be  strong  in  faith,  with  a  firm  grasp  upon 
the  promises,  doing  all  things,  daring  all  things, 
enduring  aU  things  for  Christ's  sake.  There  is  no 
room  for  cowardice  and  vacillation  and  unmanly 
shrinking  from  what  is  difficult  and  toilsome. 
Christ  must  be  followed  through  evil  and  through 
good  report ;  his  commands  must  be  obeyed  at  all 
hazards ;  the  burdens  which  he  lays  upon  you  must 
be  borne  without  faint-heartedness.  Quit  you  like 
men. 

(2)  Men  are  possessed  of  reason.  The  text  there- 
fore enjoins  it  upon  you  to  act  as  rational  beings, 
with  intelligence  to  comprehend  the  situation  in 
which  you  are  and  the  matters  in  reference  to 
which  you  are  called  to  act ;  to  put  a  proper  esti- 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  253 

mate  upon  the  ends  to  be  pursued,  and  to  know 
how  to  use  the  means  requisite  for  attaining  them. 
When  men  are  engaged  in  great  enterprises  or 
momentous  interests  are  involved,  they  bestow 
upon  them  earnest  thought,  carefully  considering 
each  step  that  they  take,  that  all  may  be  done 
wisely  and  well.  And  how  can  they  do  differently 
when  the  issues  at  stake  are  the  salvation  of  the 
soul  and  the  glory  of  God  ?  And  especially  when 
truth  and  duty  are  plainly  set  foi-th  in  the  Word 
of  God,  so  that  he  who  has  ears  may  hear,  and  he 
who  has  eyes  can  see,  and  he  who  has  reason  can 
understand,  what  is  to  be  thought  of  him  who  de- 
liberately stops  his  ears  and  shuts  his  eyes,  pref er- 
ing  darkness  to  light  ?  What  of  him  who  will  not 
ponder  the  paths  of  his  feet,  nor  make  diligent  use 
of  the  means  of  grace  and  of  spiritual  growth,  thus 
remaining  ignorant  and  unskillful  and  in  the  lowest 
stages  of  religious  progress,  instead  of  growing  in 
knowledge  and  growing  in  grace,  and  learning  how 
to  make  the  most  perfect  use  of  his  powers  in  the 
service  of  Christ  ?  Here  again  you  are  bidden  to 
act  Uke  men. 

(3)  Men  are  free  agents,  endowed  with  the  power 
of  choice,  at  liberty  to  choose  their  own  course,  to 
act  in  accordance  with  the  motives  that  are  present 
to  their  minds.     He  is  in  a  pitiable  case  who  in  the 


254  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

presence  of  the  most  powerful  motives  that  should 
instantly  decide  his  course  is  hesitating,  irresolute, 
and  unable  to  make  up  his  mind;  or  who  with 
strange  fatuity  chooses  in  opposition  to  the  noblest 
'and  best  impulses  of  his  nature.  If  with  the 
mighty  motives  of  the  Gospel  before  us  we  can 
remain  undecided,  or  our  wills  are  so  enslaved  by 
Satan  and  by  sin  that  we  choose  the  reverse  of 
what  we  know  we  should,  and  what  our  highest 
interests  demand,  we  act  as  idiots  or  maniacs,  not 
as  men.  The  Apostle  would  have  us  always  and 
evermore  be  men. 

(4)  It  is  the  distinguishing  glory  of  men  that 
they  have  a  moral  nature.  They  are  capable  of 
discerning  right  and  wrong.  They  approve  what 
is  good ;  they  condemn  what  is  evil.  Conscience 
is  their  supreme  faculty.  Duty  and  obHgation  rise 
above  everji:hing  else.  If  you  would  fulfill  the 
demand  which  your  human  nature  lays  upon  you, 
do  right.  Learn  your  duty  from  the  revealed  will 
of  God,  and  then  do  it,  not  of  course  in  your  own 
strength,  which  wiU  not  avail  you,  but  by  those 
divine  aids  which  wiU  surely  be  afforded  those  who 
humbly  ask  for  them.  Let  there  be  no  parleying 
with  the  enemy ;  no  looking  wistfully  at  what  is 
forbidden;  no  yielding  to  temptation  under  the 
plea  that  it  is  only  for  this  once,  or  under  any  plea 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  255 

whatever.  You  can  suffer  the  loss  of  a  right  hand 
or  a  right  eye ;  you  can  take  joyfully,  if  need  be, 
the  spoiling  of  your  goods,  or  rejoice  if  you  are 
counted  worthy  to  suffer  shame  for  Christ's  glorious 
name  j  but  settle  it  with  yourself  that  you  cannot 
surrender  principle,  you  cannot  offend  against  God. 
(5)  Consider  once  more  the  rank  which  man 
holds  in  the  scale  of  being :  the  lord  of  this  lower 
world  J  made  in  the  image  of  God;  his  nature 
kindi-ed  to  the  divine  nature ;  admitted  to  friendly 
intercourse  with  Godj  made  capable  of  knowing, 
loving,  adoring  his  Maker,  and  in  a  sense  quite 
pecuhar  to  himself  of  glorifying  him;  endowed 
with  a  self-conscious,  immortal  spirit,  which  is 
worth  more  than  the  whole  vast  frame  of  material 
nature,  and  which  shall  continue  to  live  when  the 
sun  itself  has  gone  out  in  darkness.  Of  what  ex- 
alted dignity  is  man,  and  what  a  demand  is  thus 
laid  upon  you  to  act  in  a  manner  worthy  of  your 
noble  nature,  as  befits  your  high  parentage  and  the 
grand  destiny  that  awaits  you !  Eschew,  then,  all 
that  is  low,  groveling,  and  despicable.  Aspire  to 
what  is  more  in  accordance  with  your  high  rank. 
Set  your  affections  on  things  above.  The  transi- 
tory, the  unsubstantial,  and  the  trifling  do  not  de- 
serve the  chief  place  in  the  esteem  of  men,  who 
were  made  for  higher  things. 


256  PROFESSOR  GREEN. 

(6)  But  the  dignity  of  human  nature  stands  on 
far  loftier  gi'ound  than  this,  and  it  makes  a  yet 
stronger  appeal  to  us.  The  incarnation  and  the 
atonement  tell,  as  we  never  could  have  imagined  it 
otherwise,  the  value  of  the  human  soul  in  the  eyes 
of  our  divine  Redeemer.  The  love  that  was  shown, 
the  price  that  was  paid,  the  whole  array  of  means 
and  instrumentalities  that  have  been  set  in  opera- 
tion, the  subordination  of  aU.  providence  and,  as  it 
would  appear,  of  creation  itself  to  this  crowning 
achievement  of  the  Godhead,  the  work  of  our  salva- 
tion, with  which  the  Most  ffigh  has  condescended 
to  link  the  supreme  and  most  effulgent  manifesta- 
tion of  his  own  glory  in  each  of  the  sacred  Persons 
— all  this,  while  it  is  adapted  on  the  one  hand  to 
humble  us  in  the  dust  that  such  unexampled  grace 
should  have  been  shown  to  us  in  oui'  Httleness  and 
our  unworthiness,  on  the  other  hand  unspeakably 
exalts  us.  His  gentleness  has  made  us  great.  What 
honor  is  conferred  upon  us  in  making  us  the 
objects  of  such  di\dne  regard !  What  enlargement 
of  soul,  what  changed  conditions,  what  new  capa- 
bilities result  from  the  employment  upon  us  of  this 
almighty  celestial  agency !  And  what  possibilities 
are  opened  before  us  of  indefinite  and  unending 
progress  in  all  that  is  pure  and  good  and  holy  and 
great! 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  257 

Man  redeemed  is  lifted  up  to  a  loftier  and  more 
conspicuous  plane  than  he  occupied  at  his  creation. 
Believers  in  Christ  are  born  of  a  new  celestial  birth, 
sons  of  God,  heu's  of  heaven,  wedded  to  the  only- 
begotten  Son,  and  with  the  assurance  given  them 
that  they  shall  sit  with  him  upon  his  throne.  What 
new  emphasis  is  thus  imparted  to  the  injunction, 
"Quit  you  like  men."  Degrade  not  a  nature  on 
which  God  is  putting  such  abundant  honor.  Learn 
from  the  life  of  Jesus  how  a  citizen  of  heaven 
should  behave  himself  on  earth.  That  is  our 
pattern  of  manhood.  We  shall  be  men  according 
to  the  true  Gospel  conception,  if  in  all  things  we 
follow  him,  and  resolutely  refuse  to  stoop  to  that 
which  would  have  been  impossible  for  him. 

In  these  various  senses,  then,  you  are  bidden  to 
be  men  in  the  whole  round  of  Christian  duty ;  in  all 
your  works  of  piety  and  devotion,  in  the  cultivation 
of  grace  in  your  hearts,  and  in  the  manifestation 
of  it  in  your  outward  lives  act  up  to  the  demands 
of  your  noble  nature,  exhibit  manly  strength  and 
courage,  make  full  use  of  your  reason,  your  free 
will,  your  moral  sense,  remember  the  exalted  rank 
accorded  to  man  in  the  creation,  and  the  still  higher 
rank  to  which  he  has  been  lifted  by  redemption. 

The  time  that  has  already  elapsed  admonishes 
me  not  to  trespass  longer  upon  your  patience,  but 


258  PROFESSOR   GREEN, 

I  must  crave  your  indulgence  while  in  a  single 
word  I  suggest  the  application  of  my  text  to  your 
seminary  life  and  to  your  life-work.  We  form  a 
little  community  in  this  institution  of  a  peculiar 
kind,  with  our  relations  to  one  another  and  to  those 
outside,  with  oui*  special  occupations  and  engage- 
ments. Now  in  all  this  be  men.  Let  there  be  no 
petty  childishness,  nothing  ignoble,  no  unmanly 
inconsistencies,  no  procrastinations,  no  neglects,  no 
duties  half  performed  or  slovenly  done.  Maintain 
a  character  worthy  of  yourselves,  in  all  things  smi*ll 
and  great,  whether  in  these  halls  or  out  of  them. 

And  when  in  due  season  you  shall  enter  upon 
the  full  work  of  the  ministry,  if  in  God's  distin- 
guishing grace  you  shall  be  intrusted  with  those 
high  functions,  the  highest  and  most  sacred  ever 
committed  to  human  hands,  then  quit  you  like  men, 
with  all  that  union  of  strength  and  tenderness  and 
all  those  manly  qualities  which  this  implies.  If 
ever  men  can  be  roused  to  the  full  employment  of 
all  their  faculties  by  grandeur  of  position,  and  no- 
bility of  work,  and  the  magnificent  sphere  of  action 
that  is  opened  before  them ;  by  the  high  authority 
with  which  they  come  charged  and  the  auxiliaries 
that  may  be  summoned  to  their  aid ;  by  the  oppor- 
tunities afforded ;  by  the  certainty  of  success  -,  by 
the  splendor  of  the  rewards;  by  the  loftiness  of 


CHRISTIAN  MANLINESS.  259 

their  aims— this  is  sui-ely  the  case  in  the  very  high- 
est degree  with  the  ambassadors  of  God  to  men, 
who  are  commissioned  in  Christ's  name  to  carry 
forward  his  work  of  blessing  here  below,  elevat- 
ing human  character,  lifting  burdens  off  of  heavy 
hearts,  stimulating  to  pui-e  and  noble  deeds,  enrich- 
ing men  with  heavenly  wealth,  dispensing  freely  of 
God's  richest,  costhest  bounty,  bringing  new  glory 
to  God,  assisting  in  their  heavenward  journey  the 
heirs  of  salvation  to  whom  angels  dehght  to  min- 
ister, and  aiding  in  the  recovery  of  this  lost  world 
to  God  and  goodness.     If  there  be  any  work  known 
amongst  men  which  should  call  into  full  exercise 
the  highest  qualities  of  mmd  and  heart,  which  can 
never  be  suffered  to  degenerate  into  a  matter  of 
routine  or  perfunctory  performance,  but  in  which 
the  whole  man  should  be  most  thoroughly  engaged, 
it  is  the  work  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.     Quit 
you  like  men,  and  let  it  be  your  aim  to  lead  every 
one  who  hears  you,  or  whom  you  can  influence,  to 
manliness  and  manly  deeds. 


THE  POWER  OF  CHRIST'S  RES- 
URRECTION. 

By  the  late  Prof.  Caspar  Wistar  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"  TJiat  I  may  knoiv  him,  and  the  power  of  his  resurrec- 
tion.^^— Philippians  3 :  10. 

THE  resurrection  of  our  Lord  is  set  in  four  dis- 
tinct relations  in  tlie  New  Testament. 
I.  It  came,  from  the  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel, 
most  prominently  into  view  as  the  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  Christ's  claim  to  be  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  As  fulfilling  prophecy,  both  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  of  Christ  himself,  it  brought  evidence 
of  the  di\dne  purpose  of  salvation.  As  the  mani- 
festation of  divine  power  in  a  result  so  transcendent, 
it  furnished  the  attestation  of  Christ's  claim  to  be 
the  sacrifice  and  the  life  of  all  who  believe.  And 
as  the  exhibition  of  the  love  of  God,  it  added  to  the 
attestation  of  omnipotence  the  actual  exhibition  of 
that  power  as  grace,  triumphing  over  sin  and  death 
and  working  out  the  salvation  of  men  to  its  com- 
pletion in  spite  of  the  most  dreaded  obstacles.  In 
260 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     261 

this  aspect  of  it  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  be- 
came the  corner-stone  of  the  Church,  the  essential 
proof  of  all  that  he  claimed  to  be  and  all  that  he 
promised  to  do  for  those  who  trusted  him.  And  in 
this  aspect  also  it  was  all-comprehensive,  because 
the  whole  of  what  was  necessary  to  be  received  of 
the  teaching  concerning  Christ's  person  and  his 
work  was  included  in  its  proof.  If  Christ  rose,  he 
was  true  -,  and  all  he  taught  himself  or  by  his  apos- 
tles was  true.  If  he  was  true,  he  was  divine ;  the 
Atonement  for  sin,  the  Author  of  spiritual  life,  the 
Giver  of  eternal  life  to  aU  who  believed.  So  that 
by  the  conditions  of  its  first  promulgation  the 
resurrection  was  the  Gospel  5  beUef  in  the  resurrec- 
tion was  faith  in  Christ  5  and  the  proclamation  of 
the  good  news  of  salvation  was  the  preaching  of 
Jesus  and  the  resurrection.  The  conflict  of  the 
truth  was  with  Pharisees,  who  denied  the  fact  be- 
cause they  repelled  the  claims  and  disliked  the 
character  of  Christ ;  with  Sadducees,  who  scorned 
the  doctrine  itself,  and  denied  Christ  because  of  it ; 
with  philosophical  objectors,  who  disputed  its  truth 
on  the  ground  of  the  difficulties  it  presents  to  reason, 
or  because  the  benefit  which  it  promised  seemed  at 
best  doubtful.  And  so  the  Gospel  won  its  victory 
over  unbelief  in  this  doctrine,  until  it  was  enthroned 
m  the  very  heart  of  the  Church,  and  crowned  in 


262  PROFESSOR   HODGE. 

Gospel,  Epistle,  and  Apocalypse  as  the  central  truth 
of  the  New  Testament.  And  the  power  of  the  res- 
urrection does  not  wane.  It  stands  to-day,  amid 
all  assaults  of  unbelief,  the  acropohs  of  our  faith, 
founded  on  the  rock  of  divine  truth,  with  the  power 
of  God  vital  within  it  for  the  world's  salvation  and 
the  light  of  heaven  resting  upon  it,  keeping  securely 
all  our  hopes  of  immortality. 

II.  But  the  power  of  the  resurrection  is  not  alone 
in  the  testimony  it  gives,  but  is  associated  with  the 
innermost  life  of  Christians.  "  That  I  may  Mow 
him,  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the 
fellowship  of  his  sufferings."  It  is  not  the  knowl- 
edge of  an  historical  fact  addressed  to  the  intelli- 
gence, but  inward  knowledge,  such  as  is  conveyed 
by  the  light  of  the  Spirit  of  God  and  is  experi- 
mentally apprehended  and  incorporated  with  the 
Christian  life.  To  know  Christ  is  not  to  know 
what  is  taught  about  him,  nor  what  he  did  5  it  is 
to  have  the  spiritual  experience  of  his  personal 
presence  with  the  soul ;  and  knowing  Christ  is  here 
expressed  under  the  particulars  of  knowing  the 
power  of  his  resurrection  and  the  fellowship  of  his 
sufferings.  That  power,  therefore,  has  its  sphere 
of  operation  in  the  most  vital  processes  of  spiritual 
Hf  e,  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  thus  set  in  the 
most  intimate  relations  with  Christian  experience. 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     2G3 

Thus  the  resurrection  is  intimately  connected 
in  the  New  Testament  with  justification  by  faith. 
In  this  context  Paul  is  suddenly  moved  to  warn  his 
readers  against  those  who  taught  them  to  trust  in 
the  law.  He  sketches  his  own  eminent  advantages 
under  the  law,  but  declares  that  he  counts  them  all 
but  "  loss,  that  I  may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in 
him,  not  ha^dng  mine  own  righteousness,  wliich  is 
of  the  law,  but  that  which  is  through  the  faith  of 
Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God  by  faith : 
that  I  may  know  him,  and  the  power  of  his  resur- 
rection, being  made  conformable  unto  his  death." 
Here  is  the  righteousness  of  the  law  on  one  side, 
and  on  the  other  the  righteousness  of  God  by  faith. 
"What  Paul  desu-es  is  to  be  found  in  Christ — that  is, 
to  have  that  union  with  Christ  which  secures  the 
possession  of  the  righteousness  which  he  gives, 
and  which  biings  spiritual  experience  of  the  power 
of  his  resurrection.  The  resurrection  is  evidently 
closely  allied  with  Paul's  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith.  Only  they  who  have  the  righteousness 
of  faith  can  know  the  power  of  the  resun-ection 
in  this  expeiimental  sense ;  and  the  power  of  the 
resurrection  is  manifested  in  producing  the  assur- 
ance of  justification.  In  Romans  4 :  24,  25,  this  re- 
lation is  even  more  clearly  established,  where  Paul, 
in  illustrating  his  doctrine  by  the  case  of  Abraham, 


264  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

who  believed  that  God  could  fulfill  his  promise  of 
raising  the  living  from  the  dead,  says  that  his  faith 
was  imputed  for  righteousness,  and  not  for  his  saJie 
alone,  but "  for  us  also,  to  whom  it  shall  be  imputed, 
if  we  beMeve  on  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  our  Lord 
from  the  dead ;  who  was  delivered  for  oui-  offenses, 
and  was  raised  again  for  oui*  justification."  That 
is,  he  was  dehvered  unto  death  as  a  propitiation  for 
our  sins,  and  was  raised  again  for  our  justification  j 
emphatically  declaring  that  our  justification  is  not 
complete  without  the  resurrection  of  Christ.  We 
are  not,  indeed,  to  understand  that  his  resurrection 
stands  in  the  same  relation  to  our  justification  that 
his  death  sustains,  nor  that  it  forms  a  constituent 
part  of  the  sacrifice  for  sin.  It  is  not  penalty,  it  is 
reward  5  it  is  not  suffering,  it  is  triumph ;  it  is  not 
humiliation,  it  is  exaltation  to  glory  5  it  is  not  death, 
but  the  victor}^  over  death.  But  no  process  of  con- 
flict is  complete  without  the  victory,  no  labor  with- 
out its  reward.  On  God's  part,  indeed,  the  right- 
eousness is  procured,  accepted,  and  the  pardon 
secured.  But  on  man's  part  there  is  no  completed 
justification  without  resurrection  5  and  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ  is  for  justification. 

1.  This  will  appear  when  we  consider  that  the 
resurrection  was  necessary  to  exhibit  the  nature 
of  the  death  of  Christ  as  an  offering  for  sin, — 


THE  POUTER  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION. 


265 


that  he  did  not  die  as  a  sinner,  nor  as  a  man 
like  other  men  holden  under  the  power  of  death. 
There  was  evidence,  indeed,  in  his  life  of  absolute 
holiness  J    there  was   evidence  in   liis  mbraculous 
power,  in  his  heavenly  teaching,  in  his  character 
assei-tmg  its  di\4ne  origin ;  but  all  this  would  re- 
ceive an  utter  contradiction  and  denial  if  it  were 
possible  that  he  should  continue  under  the  power 
of  death.     The  elements  of  sacrifice  are :  the  sinner, 
needing  expiation ;  the  priest ;  the  perfect  offering ; 
and  God  above  all,  who  accepts  and  pardons  and 
grants  life  as  the  reward.     The  justification  is  in- 
complete and  inoperative  if  any  of  these  parts  be 
lacking.     "  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  and  the  strength 
of  sin  is  the  law."    And  if  Chiist  be  not  risen,  there 
has  been  no  victory  over  sin  and  no  annulment  of 
the  law ;  and  there  can  be  no  evidence  for  the  sin- 
ner that  the  death  of  Jesus  stands  in  any  such  re- 
lation to  his  faith  as  that  the  righteousness  of  God, 
which  is  by  faith,  is  become  his  5  or  that,  even 
though  he  died  with   Christ,  he  has  a  new  and 
spiritual  life  in  the  soul.     Paul  traversed  precisely 
this  road  in  his  rehgious  experience.     Jesus  ap- 
peared to  him  as  risen  and  glorified.     Then  he 
knew  that  his  death  had  not  been  that  of  a  male- 
factor or  of  a  pestilent  deceiver,  but  was  the  one 
offering  for  sin  which  was  adequate,  and  that  Jesus 


266  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

whom  he  persecuted  was  his  Lord  and  Saviour. 
Peter  testifies  to  the  same  effect,  when  he  tells  us, 
that  from  the  despair  and  sadness  of  the  disciples 
at  the  crucifixion,  and  the  disappointment  of  their 
hopes  that  followed,  they  were  "  begotten  again  unto 
a  lively  hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead."  And  the  Jews,  who  could  not  re- 
ceive the  doctrine  of  a  suffering  Messiah,  and  to 
whom  his  ignominious  death  was  an  absolute  bar 
to  his  claim,  when  they  accepted  Petei-'s  testimony 
that  he  had  risen  again  saw  also  in  his  death  their 
atonement,  and  repented  and  were  converted.  We 
see  the  power  of  his  resurrection  for  justification. 

2.  It  will  appear  further  when  we  reflect  that  only 
by  the  resurrection  was  the  dignity  of  his  person,  and 
consequently  the  value  of  his  death  as  a  sacrifice, 
exhibited.  '^  He  was  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
with  power,  by  the  resurrection  of  the  dead."  Accord- 
ing to  the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament,  the  hu- 
miliation of  the  Son  of  God  in  taking  om^  nature,  in 
assuming  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  subjecting  him- 
self even  to  the  death  of  the  cross,  can  only  be  known 
and  proved  to  be  a  humihation  by  contrast  with  the 
exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  God  which  ensues. 
The  deity  associated  with  man  that  was  subject  to 
death  must  be  manifested  by  securing  the  weakness 
of  humanity  from  the  power  of  death.     And  the 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     267 

human  natui-e,  suffering  and  brought  low,  must 
itseK  also  share  in  the  vindication,  and  become 
partaker  in  the  heavenly  glory.  The  exaltation  of 
Chi'ist  reflects  its  glory  upon  his  liumiHation.  The 
exaltation  alone  exhibits  him  to  our  faith  and  rev- 
erence in  the  character  he  claims  as  our  Saviom*. 
And  when  we  see  him  who  proves  his  origin  by  his 
present  power  and  glory  submitting  to  death,  we 
then  may  estimate  the  value  and  significance  of 
his  death.  Pain  patiently  borne,  dignity  asserting 
itself  amidst  brutal  usage,  calm  self-surrender  to 
a  noble  purpose,  supreme  love  for  men,  even  for 
enemies — these  have  their  power.  But  we  have 
seen  them  often  and  illustriously,  thank  God,  in 
the  annals  of  the  race.  But  death  of  the  Prince  of 
Life ;  suffering  in  ineffable  and  spotless  purity ;  pa- 
tience in  the  Omnipotent  One  j  the  bosom  of  God 
from  aU  eternity,  and  the  thi-one  and  the  praises  of 
heaven  to  all  eternity,  set  in  contrast  with  the  cross 
and  with  the  sepulcher : — these  give  the  power  which 
it  possesses  to  the  death  of  Jesus.  The  dignity  of 
his  person  alone  exhibits  the  value  of  his  death,  and 
the  power  of  his  resurrection,  therefore,  is  for  oui' 
justification  from  sin. 

3.  And,  as  I  have  said,  there  is  absolute  necessity 
for  the  declaration  on  the  part  of  God  of  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  sacrifice.     What  assurance  has  the 


268  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

sinner  of  forgiveness  until  God  himseK  declares 
that  he  has  forgiven  ?  Vague  ti*ust  in  divine  for- 
bearance will  not  satisfy  in  such  a  case.  We  must 
know  from  himself  what  God  will  do.  And  the 
frown  of  God  rested  in  darkness  on  the  cross  and 
on  the  tomb  of  Jesus  until  the  dawn  of  the  resui-- 
rection  morning.  Not  till  then  was  our  justification 
assured. 

4.  And  we  are  taught  that  he  has  ascended  to  the 
right  hand  of  God,  where  he  ever  lives,  and  that  his 
perpetual  Idvmg  before  God  is  in  order  to  his  mak- 
ing prevalent  intercession  for  us.  We  were  justi- 
fied in  his  death ;  we  were  justified  in  the  pardon 
of  God,  spoken  in  peace  to  the  soul ;  we  are  justi- 
fied by  faith.  But  we  do  not  conceive  of  this  justi- 
fication as  simply  a  transient  act,  done  once  and 
for  all.  It  is  a  permanent  relation  between  the  for- 
given soul  and  God,  by  which  we  ever  hve  forgiven 
and  secure  upon  the  ever-living  righteousness  of 
Christ,  and  continue  to  hve  as  pardoned  sinners  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  perpetual  inter- 
cession. He  was  raised  again  for  our  justification. 
Could  we  conceive  for  a  moment  of  an  arrest  in 
-the  divine  pui'pose  between  the  crucifixion  and  the 
resurrection — that  the  tomb  of  Jesus  still  guarded 
his  mortal  remains,  that  no  angels  announced  his 
rising  to  the  women,  no  disciples  witnessed  it  to  the 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     269 

Churcli — and  with  all  the  teaching  and  the  death 
of  Christ  what  would  be  the  heritage?  Where 
would  have  been  the  Church  founded  on  the  faith 
of  the  dispirited  and  disappointed  disciples  -,  where 
our  assurances  of  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  f  What 
would  be  to  us  the  graves  of  our  dead  ?  We  might 
turn  to  the  miserable  caricatures  of  rationalism  to 
write  for  us  the  history  of  the  life  of  Christ  and  of 
the  origin  of  the  Church.  And  of  the  Church,  and 
of  heaven  itself,  we  would  utter  the  lamentation, 
instead  of  at  the  deserted  grave:  "They  have 
taken  away  our  Lord,"  and,  leaving  us  only  a 
shrine  to  visit  in  a  holy  sepulcher,  his  life  and  his 
Spirit  are  gone  from  us  forever. 
^  III.  But  if  the  power  of  his  resurrection  be  for 
our  justification,  it  is  much  more  constantly  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  more  obviously,  the  source 
of  the  spiritual  life^f  faith  and  of_obedieng^  No 
form  of  statement  is  more  familiar  in  St.  Paul  than 
this:  "If  ye  died  with  Christ,  ye  also  live  in  his 
rising  again."  In  this  familiar  argument  it  is  evi- 
dent that  we  have  something  more  than  an  appeal 
to  gratitude  or  love  to  awaken  the  soul  to  effort  to 
please  him  who  has  done  so  much  for  us.  What  in- 
centive, indeed,  so  powerful  could  be  found  ?  But 
alas  for  us  if  there  were  nothing  but  our  gratitude 
and  love  to  depend  upon  as  the  forces  of  the  Christian 


270  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

life  !  Nor  is  the  conception  of  St.  Paul  that  Christ 
has  by  his  resurrection  infused  his  own  personal 
life  into  the  Churchy  so  that  by  faith  his  thoughts 
and  energies  become  active  in  the  free  obedience  of 
his  people.  For  this  it  would  seem  that  incarnation 
would  be  adequate  without  need  either  of  death  or 
of  resurrection.  But  the  doctrine  is  that  the  same 
Spirit  of  God  that  dwelt  and  dwells  in  Christ,  mak- 
ing him  in  his  humanity  the  organ  of  the  divine 
Person,  enabling  him  for  his  work  and  reviving 
him  from  death,  dwells  in  the  hearts  of  all  those 
who  believe  in  him.  The  same  one,  personal,  all- 
powerful,  and  holy  Spirit  which  is  in  him  is  the 
ascension  gift  to  his  Church.  So  that,  having  one 
Spirit,  his  people  have  one  mind,  one  purpose,  one 
life,  as  well  as  one  destiny  with  him.  This  was  the 
meaning  of  Christ  when  he  told  his  disciples  that 
his  departure  from  them  was  in  order  to  his  send- 
ing the  Holy  Spirit.  This  was  the  intention  of  his 
words  when  he  promised  that  he  would  be  with 
them  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

1.  And  from  this  point  of  \dew  we  see  clearly 
what  Paul  teaches  the  Ephesians,  that  in  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ  we  have  a  visible  exhibition  of  the 
same  energy  which  works  in  the  hearts  of  all  be- 
lievers in  their  spiritual  life;  and  therefore  that 
we  have  the  surest  support  to  our  faith  that  we 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     271 

shall  conquer  in  the  conflict  with  sin,  in  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ.  ^'  That  ye  may  know  what  is  the 
exceeding  greatness  of  God's  power  to  us-ward  who 
believe,  according  to  the  working  of  his  mighty 
power,  which  he  wrought  in  Christ  when  he  raised 
him  fi'om  the  dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own  right 
hand  in  the  heavenly  places."  The  words  express 
two  things :  first,  that  the  power  is  the  same,  i.e., 
by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  second,  that  it  is  not  only 
the  pledge  of  the  bodily  resurrection  of  behevers, 
but  the  pledge  and  cause  of  their  spiritual  resurrec- 
tion. The  same  power  working  to  the  same  end, 
and  working,  therefore,  unto  certain  aecomphsh- 
ment.  The  omnipotence  of  God  in  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  stands  related,  therefore,  not  only  to  the 
evidences  of  his  truth,  but  it  repeats  the  mu-acle  in 
the  spiritual  experience  of  believers,  who  are  raised 
by  him  to  newness  of  life. 

2.  But  this  energy  is  more  than  pledged  and 
more  than  illustrated  in  the  resurrection.  The 
language  of  the  Apostle  proves  that  it  is  actually 
imparted  to  the  believer,  conveyed  in  and  by  the 
resurrection  of  Christ.  Read  that  wonderful  argu- 
ment in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans :  '^  Therefore 
we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into  death : 
that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by 
the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should 


272  PROFESSOR   HODGE. 

walk  in  newness  of  life.  ...  In  that  he  died,  he 
died  unto  sin  once :  but  in  that  he  liveth,  he  liveth 
unto  God.  Likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to 
be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  The  argument  of  the 
passage  is  from  the  nature  of  union  with  Christ ; 
if  that  be  real  and  vital  in  his  death,  so  that  we  are 
justified,  then  by  the  very  nature  and  condition  of 
that  relation  the  union  continues  in  his  rising  and 
in  his  present  life.  So  that  the  Apostle  teaches 
that  there  not  only  may  be  and  should  be,  but  that 
there  was,  the  actual  energizing  of  the  soul  of  the 
behever  with  the  power  of  God,  in  the  resurrection 
of  Christ.  Read  the  same  truth  in  Ephesians  2:5: 
"  Even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  God  hath  quick- 
ened" (rather  did  quicken)  "us  together  with  Christ, 
(by  grace  ye  are  saved ; )  and  hath  raised  us  up  to- 
gether, and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places 
in  Christ  Jesus  " — i.e.,  when  he  raised  Christ  he  im- 
parted life  to  believers.  Such  is  this  union  with 
him  that  his  resurrection  is  a  related  event,  and 
they  have  spiritual  life  in  him.  And  in  his  ascen- 
sion and  exaltation  they  are  brought  up  spiritually 
from  the  power  of  darkness,  and  from  life  in  sin, 
and  made  to  be  with  Chi'ist.  Exaltation  of  the 
present  life  of  faith  as  well  as  the  future  life  of 
vision  are  ahke  included.     And  so  when  he  argues 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     273 

in  Colossians  2 :  12,  13,  against  an  ascetic  cere- 
monialism, his  objection  is  that  it  dishonors  that 
principle  of  life  which  we  obtained  fi-om  Christ 
when  God  raised  him  from  the  dead.  In  him  ye 
have  a  spiritual  circumcision  and  a  spiritual  resur- 
rection, thi'ough  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God, 
who  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead.  Faith  in 
Christ  and  in  the  power  of  God  which  raised  Christ 
are  essentially  the  same  thing  and  have  the  same 
life-giving  energ}^ 

3.  Paul  shows  the  power  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  to  sanctify,  in  the  relation  in  which  he  sets 
the  doctrine  to  the  honor  it  gives  to  om-  mortal 
bodies.  These  frail,  suffering,  inadequate,  sinning, 
treacherous,  dying  bodies  are  not  despised  under 
the  Gospel,  but  kept  as  the  temple  of  God  and  for 
the  uses  of  the  eternal  life.  Read  the  sixth  chapter 
of  1  Corinthians,  and  what  more  profound  state- 
ment of  principles  can  be  framed :  ''  The  body  for 
the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  for  the  body."  It  is  not 
alliteration  nor  antithesis,  ^^TJie  Lord  for  the  hodyP 
"  And  God  hath  both  raised  up  the  Lord,  and  Tvdll 
also  raise  up  us  by  his  own  power.  Know  ye  not 
that  your  bodies  are  the  membei*s  of  Christ  ?  .  .  . 
He  that  is  joined  unto  the  Lord  is  one  spirit.  .  .  . 
Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you,  which  ye  have  of  God, 


274  PROFESSOR  HODGE. 

and  ye  are  not  your  own?"  The  power  of  the 
resurrection  is  for  the  safeguard  and  the  sanctifiea- 
tion  of  these  mortal  bodies. 

4.  And  the  context  sets  this  power  of  the  resur- 
rection for  sanctification  in  yet  another  aspect,  in 
its  enabhng  us  to  endure  the  sufferings  which  are 
laid  upon  us  in  this  life.  Paul  is  speaking  of  his 
sufferings  and  self-denials,  endured  for  Christ's 
Gospel,  and  he  says  that  he  counts  them  as  the 
merest  refuse  of  the  feast  if  he  can  win  Christ  and 
know  the  power  of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellow- 
ship of  his  sufferings,  being  made  conformable  imto 
his  death.  He  alludes  here,  not  to  union  by  faith 
with  the  death  and  sufferings  of  Christ,  but  to  the 
making  up  that  which  is  lacking  of  the  suffering  of 
Christ  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  Church. 
And  in  all  active  labor  and  personal  self-denial 
which  is  to  be  endured  in  the  great  work,  the  power 
of  his  resurrection  sustains  and  energizes  and  con- 
secrates. Human  life  is  become  all  sacred  through 
this  power ;  human  nature  glorified,  because  Chnst 
was  a  man ;  the  body  honored  because  of  the  resur- 
rection; suffering  consecrated,  death  vanquished, 
the  soul  made  pure  and  loving,  the  grave  a 
peaceful  and  holy  resting-place — all  by  means  of 
the  working  of  this  holy  life,  which  is  in  all  who 
believe. 


THE  POIVER   OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     275 

TV.  Paul  teaches  that  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
is  for  our  consolation.  Under  the  conditions  of  its 
appHcation  you  know  how  he  dwells  upon  the  truth 
as  the  assui-ance  of  our  personal  immortality,  and 
as  the  invincible  proof  and  absolute  guarantee  of 
our  own  bodily  resuiTCction  and  triumph  over  death. 
"  If  we  believe  that  Jesus  rose,  then  also  them  that 
sleep  in  Jesus  wiU  God  bring  with  him."  '^  If  the 
Spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead 
dwell  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the 
dead  shall  also  quicken  your  mortal  bodies  by  his 
Spirit  which  dwelleth  in  you."  And  this  resur- 
rection he  teaches  is  to  the  eternal  union  with  and 
vision  of  the  Lord,  and  to  the  participation  in  his 
gloiy.  ^'  For  when  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shaU  ap- 
pear, then  shaU  we  also  appear  with  him  in  glor3^" 
The  power  of  the  resurrection,  then,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  for  testimony  to  the  truth,  for  justification 
by  faith,  for  sanctification  of  life,  and  unto  the  life 
everlasting. 

Briefly,  three  thoughts  suggest  themselves  in  con- 
sequence of  this  study  of  the  truth : 

1.  How  deep  is  our  need  of  faith  to  realize  the 
unseen  in  order  to  obtain  the  benefits  of  this  doc- 
trine. In  the  struggles  and  cares  and  vexations, 
and  especially  in  the  sins  of  life,  how  hard  it  is  to 
hiowj  inwardly  and  experimentally,  the  working  of 


276  PROFESSOR   HODGE. 

this  life  of  resurrection.  And  death  !  Ah  !  a s  we 
go  along  in  life  we  become  no  better  reconciled  to 
the  thought.  Indeed,  to  the  high-hearted  enthusi- 
asms of  youth  it  may  even  be  less  terrible  than 
to  the  sober  understanding  of  experience.  We 
become  famihar,  less  sensitive,  hardened  by  use. 
But  it  remains  the  same  bitter,  ruthless  enemy, 
to  the  end,  wrenching  from  us  our  joy,  and  us 
from  the  light  of  life.  Oh,  for  Paul's  faith!— 
to  "know  Christ  and  the  power  of  his  resurrec- 
tion, that  we  might  count  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord." 

•  2.  How  wonderful  is  the  unity  of  truth  in  its 
New  Testament  presentation.  We  may  analyze 
and  separate  into  its  parts  and  establish  associations 
in  our  minds  with  this  or  that  doctrine  of  the  Gos- 
pel ;  but  in  the  words  of  inspii-ation  itseK  we  cannot 
touch  the  truth  at  any  point  without  being  led 
directly  into  relations  with  its  most  fundamental 
principle,  and  through  every  varying  and  rich 
abundance  of  association  with  all  other  truth  and 
duty.    All  centers  in  Christ. 

3.  And  hence  how  impossible  it  is  to  hope  for  the 
advantage  of  any  part  of  this  scheme  as  a  part  dis- 
sociated from  the  whole ;  to  look  for  the  manifesta- 
tion of  this  spiritual  life  in  blessing,  if  we  do  not 


THE  PO^'ER  OF  CHRIST'S  RESURRECTION.     277 

seek  it  iu  duty ;  to  look  for  it  in  moral  growth,  un- 
less we  have  it  in  justification  and  forgiveness;  to 
have  any  hope  in  the  resui-rection  of  the  dead,  if 
we  have  not  the  present  spiritual  life  of  holiness ; 
or  to  indulge  any  hope  at  all  in  this  life  or  in  the 
next,  unless  we  be  in  Christ  and  know  him. 


DRIFTING. 

By  the  late  Prof.  Charles  A.  Aiken,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 

"  Therefore  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the 
things  which  we  have  heard  [''  that  were  heard,"  E.  F.],  lest  at 
any  time  we  should  let  them  slip  l"lest  haply  we  drift  away 
from  them,"  E.  F.]."— Hebrews  2:1. 

"XXXHAT  is  easier  than  slipping,  or  letting  things 
^  ^  slip  ?  We  need  not  do  anything  to  slip. 
On  the  edge  of  a  stair,  on  an  icy  path,  on  a  fruit- 
skin  that  has  been  carelessly  thrown  upon  the  pave- 
ment, on  the  polished  floor  of  a  room  in  which  we 
spend  half  our  time,  we  may  slip  and  become  crip- 
ples for  life,  if  we  live  to  be  cripples.  Or  if  it  is 
not  we  that  slip,  a  bit  of  food  slipping  may  strangle 
us ;  a  sharp  knife  slipping  may  cut  an  artery ;  a 
valued  possession  slipping  may  be  lost  to  us;  a 
priceless  opportunity  for  doing  or  getting  good 
may  pass  away  beyond  recovery. 

What  one  of  the  great  movements  of  our  life  is 
in  itself  less  noticeable  than  drifting?  Its  sources 
are  far  away  out  of  our  sight,  in  arctic  or  southern 
seas,  in  tidal  movements,  in  convolutions  of  the 

278 


DRIFTING.  279 

coast,  ill  irregularities  of  the  ocean's  bed,  in  storms 
that  have  been  raging  in  other  latitudes  and  longi- 
tudes than  ours.  The  movement  and  pressure  of 
the  currents  is  quiet  and  noiseless.  Things  about 
us  move  with  us,  and  we  take  less  notice  when  all 
things  pass  on  together.  A  cyclone  so  arouses  and 
excites  us  as  in  extreme  cases  to  paralyze  us,  and  to 
take  away  the  little  power  we  had  before  the  burst- 
ing of  the  storm.  Drifting,  we  are  lulled  into  a 
false  secui'ity,  and  find,  it  may  be,  that  at  the  last 
we  cannot  help  om*selves  in  the  false  or  perilous 
position  into  which  we  have — only  drifted.  On 
how  many  sandy  beaches  and  rocky  shores  do  hulks 
of  goodly  ships  and  bones  of  gallant  men  tell  of  the 
danger  that  is  hidden  in  drifting !  And  when  at 
the  gi-eat  day  the  sea  shall  give  up  its  dead,  who 
can  count  the  hosts  that  shall  come  up  out  of  its 
depths,  because  unsuspected  currents  bore  them  to 
the  spot  that  was  to  be  their  tomb  !  The  seamen 
may  have  been  watching  clouds,  mnds,  the  barome- 
ter, the  compass— aU  but  their  charts ;  or,  if  their 
charts  also,  these  were  the  work  of  half -instructed 
and  finite  men  that  could  not  know  and  record 
everything. 

So  in  the  social,  political,  intellectual,  moral,  and 
spiritual  life  of  men  drifting  is  one  of  the  most 
constant  and  prolific  causes  of  disaster.     We  might 


280  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

fill  our  hour  with  instructive  and  impressive  illus- 
trations from  biography  and  history.  Nor  need 
we  be  learned  in  these  departments  of  literature 
tefore  we  can  find  apt  and  effective  enforcement 
for  this  lesson  from  the  record-book  of  human  life. 
The  memory  of  a  child  can  recall  many  unfortunate 
or  evil  conditions  and  experiences  into  which  he 
never  went  purposely,  but  was  carried  along  una^ 
wares,  giving  himself  up  to  the  forces  that  moved 
him.  There  is  no  hour  of  the  life  of  the  oldest  of 
us  that  has  not  felt  the  power  of  these  currents. 
Well  for  us  if  we  have  taken  timely  and  sufficient 
warning,  and  so  escaped  the  jeopardy  in  which  we 
were. 

This  aspect  of  human  life  is  very  distinctly 
brought  before  us  in  our  text,  and  furnishes  our 
simple  and  practical  theme — drifting. 

Some  of  the  considerations  that  I  shall  urge  bear 
with  equal  propriety  and  force  upon  the  life  of  all  j 
others  find  their  full  apphcation  only  in  the  case 
of  Christian  men  and  the  Christian  life.  There  is 
need  enough  that  men  be  put  on  their  guard  in  re- 
spect to  social,  financial,  political,  intellectual  drift- 
ing ;  our  great  present  concern  is  with  the  moral 
and  spiritual  life. 

There  is  a  drifting  which  tells  of  disaster  already 
experienced,  while  it  renders  further  disaster  more 


DRIFTING.  281 

13robable.  If  her  nidder-chains  have  given  way,  the 
powerful  engines  of  the  "Majestic"  herself  cannot 
keep  her  out  of  the  trough  of  the  sea  or  away  from 
the  ledges  that  line  the  coast.  With  a  strong  gale 
driving  a  vessel  upon  a  lee  shore,  if  her  anchors 
find  no  holding  gi'ound  she  will  soon  be  among  the 
breakers.  So  in  life  there  is  a  drift  that  lies  mid- 
way between  evil  in  the  past  and  evil  to  come. 
Disabling  calamity  or  overmastermg  vices  may  have 
made  a  man  an  easy  and  helpless  prey  to  any  strong 
current  of  influence  that  lays  hold  upon  him.  The 
lesson  and  caution  of  our  text  relate  to  a  different 
class  of  phenomena — where  power  is  not  impaired 
or  gone,  but  only  not  in  use. 

If  we  seek  fii-st  for  answers  to  the  simple  ques- 
tions when,  why,  how  we  di-ift  in  so  many  things, 
in  so  many  ways,  even  in  the  religious  Kf e,  we  shall 
better  judge  of  the  unworthiness  and  peril  of  it, 
and  shall  search  more  eagerly  for  a  way  of  escape. 
Conscience  will  be  aroused  and  give  new  emphasis 
to  our  text,  as  it  teaches  us  that  "  ive  ought  to  give 
the  more  earnest  he^d  to  the  things  that  were  heard, 
lest  haply  tve  drift  away  from  them"  We  shaU  feel 
the  force  of  the  ^^ therefore"  with  which  the  text 
begins. 

Drifting  always  gives  token  of  power  at  work. 
The  force  that  is  acting  may  be  diffused  and  not 


282  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

concentrated ;  it  is  none  the  less  force.  It  will  be 
less  noticeable  if  acting  over  a  wide  area ;  its  press- 
ure may  at  any  given  moment,  at  any  given  point, 
.be  more  gently  exercised  5  it  may  yet  effect  \Qry 
substantial  and  serious  results.  A  sudden  blast 
coming  upon  us  unnoticed  might  beat  down  or 
overturn  the  boat  in  which  we  were  floating  a  mo- 
ment before  without  apprehension.  A  few  weeks 
ago  I  saw  a  miniature  cyclone  whirl  rapidly  over  a 
small  sail-boat  that  came  directly  into  its  path. 
The  two  occupants,  seeing  its  approach,  had,  quick 
as  thought,  lowered  their  sail,  dropped  their  anchor, 
thrown  themselves  down  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat, 
and  were  safe.  Unobservant,  one  may  drift  very 
agreeably,  under  a  gentle  pressure,  upon  shoals  or 
among  reefs,  and  if  wreck  is  escaped  it  may  be  a 
long  and  weaiy  way  back  to  the  course  on  which 
he  would  be  mo\Tng.  It  did  not  seem  to  be  power 
that  was  carrsing  him  out  of  the  way ;  if  it  could 
be  concentrated  and  measured,  it  might  be  found 
sufficient  to  sweep  away  massive  barriers.  Or  it 
may  be  some  hidden  undercurrent  that  has  taken 
us  into  its  grasp.  Of  such  the  ocean  must  be  full 
to  keep  the  seas  within  the  bounds  appointed  for 
them.  In  shallow  waters,  not  showing  themselves 
upon  the  surface,  they  may  lay  hold  upon  the  vessel's 
keel  and  carry  us  whithersoever  this  unsuspected 


DRIFTING.  283 

governor  listeth.  There  are  many  sucli  undercur- 
rents in  life,  more  dangerous  because  hidden.  So 
long  as  nothing  upon  the  surface  attracts  attention 
and  awakens  us  to  vigilance  and  effort,  we  are  too 
ready  to  presume  upon  our  safety  and  remit  our 
activity.  Xo  summer  passes  that  does  not  bring 
from  popular  seaside  resorts  a  gloomy  list  of  deaths 
by  drowning,  due  to  the  fact  that  unobservant  and 
over-confident  swimmers  had  fallen  inadvertently 
into  the  grasp  of  a  treacherous  current  that  was 
too  strong  for  them  and  gave  its  warning  too  late. 

The  social  and  individual  life  of  man  is  full  of 
currents  and  their  effects.  The  movement  of  our 
life  is  not  all  toward  chosen  ends.  It  is  not  wholly 
under  the  dominion  of  clear  present  intelligence, 
and  high  and  worthy  principle  and  purpose.  What 
we  do,  what  occurs  with  us,  is  not  always  decided 
by  our  own  deliberate  and  justifiable  judgment,  or 
indeed  by  any  other  specific  and  recognizable  choice. 

Personal  haUt  is  one  of  these  currents.  Our 
habits,  even  in  the  highest  and  most  important  con- 
cerns, are  often  formed,  and  become  very  persistent 
and  conti'olling,  without  much  warrant  for  satis- 
faction on  our  part  in  and  with  them.  Good  habit 
is  a  mighty  power  in  aid  of  a  worthy  life  when  ends 
are  wisely  chosen  and  energies  trained  to  work 
easily  and  almost  automatically.     But  many  of  our 


284  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

habits  in  every  department  of  our  life  do  not  in 
any  worthy  way  come  into  being,  and  into  the  place 
of  control  which  they  have  gained  for  themselves. 
We  do  and  continue  to  do  until  the  doing  becomes 
almost  a  second  natui'e.  Only  under  special  in- 
ducement, and  only  mth  strenuous  endeavor,  do 
we  act  otherwise.  And  it  might  cause  embarrass- 
ment and  shame  were  we  called  to  justify  or  apolo- 
gize for  our  habit.  Such  acts  and  courses  of  action 
do  not  so  mu(».h  as  attract  our  own  attention,  how- 
ever it  may  be  with  the  attention  of  others ;  they 
no  longer  sunmion  us  to  deliberation  5  we  have  left 
behind  in  their  case  that  serious  discriminating 
criticism  to  which  we  may  still  subject  distinct  and 
new  activities.  Hoav  much  of  our  life  di'if ts  in  cur- 
rents of  individual  habit ! 

General  social  usage  is  another  current.  Here  it 
is  not  om'  own  past  action  that  has  determined  the 
kind  of  force  or  the  direction  of  the  movement  that 
is  bearing  us  along.  It  is  the  choice  or  habit  of 
others,  or  some  power  more  complex  yet,  by  which 
we  are  encompassed  and  mastered  and  carried  on, 
with  very  little  consent  or  thought,  perhaps  with- 
out suspicion.  We  have  passed  neither  intellect- 
ual nor  moral  judgment  upon  it.  The  pinch  of  con- 
science is  felt  the  less,  because  it  is  what  others  are 
and  do  that  so  largely  decides  our  doing ;  and  oiu* 


DRIFTING.  285 

conscience  readily  excuses  itseK  from  presuming  to 
judge  them. 

Where  we  are  all  moving  together  it  is  so  easy 
to  take  little  account  of  the  direction  of  the  move- 
ment, or  even  of  the  fact  that  we  are  in  motion. 
We  are  not  drifting  through  or  away  from  our  en- 
vironment, but  with  it ;  and  we  may  need  to  look 
at  some  distant  landmark  to  see  in  what  course  we 
are  all  going  together.  We  shrink  from  being  ac- 
counted odd  or  out  of  sympathy  with  our  constant 
and  necessary  companions.  We  are  unwilling  to 
be  thought  censors  of  our  friends. 

Sometimes  these  social  usages  are  of  very  large 
dimensions,  covering  wide  spaces  and  long  periods. 
Many  influences  have  conspired  to  make  them  what 
they  ai*e.  Their  springs  lie  hidden  in  part  in  a  dis- 
tant past.  We  may  be  contributing  our  httle  quota 
of  support  to  them  now,  but  they  were  before  us, 
and  will  be  after  us ;  we  found  them,  we  leave  them 
behind;  but  for  the  time  being  we  are  in  many 
ways  and  at  many  points  subject  to  their  press- 
ure. It  often  becomes  a  delicate  and  difficult  moral 
problem  what  our  responsibility  is  in  regard  to 
them,  not  so  much  with  respect  to  their  existence, 
as  with  reference  to  our  attitude  toward  them.  Too 
often  we  raise  no  question;  we  only  drift  with 
them.    Within  this  large  and  general  social  move- 


286  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

ment  there  will  always  be  found  in  every  particular 
society  or  community  forces  at  work  creating  a 
local  drift,  which  may  be  quite  distinct  from  or  in- 
dependent of  the  greater  currents  that  bear  men 
'along.  Contrasts  become  more  marked,  are  more 
quickly  noted,  and  T\dll  be  more  sharply  criticised 
when  one  de\dates  from  the  custom  of  those  close 
about  him,  and  seems  by  his  action  to  reflect  upon 
the  propriety  of  theirs.  Therefore  in  the  interest 
of  peace  and  of  good-f eUowship  one  sometimes  falls 
in  with  that  which  his  immediate  fellows  do  which 
he  does  not  approve. 

Even  in  hmited  and  select  communities  (like  our 
own)  where  conditions  might  be  supposed  to  be  at 
their  best,  where  mental  and  moral  faculties  should 
be  most  cultivated  and  alert,  where  the  sense  of 
personal  responsibility  should  be  most  highly  de- 
veloped and  strongest,  where  men  should  most 
surely  know  what  they  do  and  why  they  do  it,  tra- 
ditional usage,  or  temporary  and  local  currents  of 
some  other  sort,  may  suspend  that  searching  scru- 
tiny and  that  clear  and  well-defined  individual  decis- 
ion which  are  so  essential  to  high  and  right  action. 
Our  very  sense  of  security  in  our  favorable  condi- 
tions may  lead  us  to  go  unquestioning  with  the 
multitude.  Our  hand  drops  the  helm  and  we  drift. 
We  quietly  divest  ourselves  of  responsibihty,  and 


DRIFTING.  287 

do  what  others  do,  and  because  they  do  it,  mstead 
of  being  \dgilant  and  active  in  moral  decision.  We 
fall  into  the  state  of  the  people  whom  onr  Lord  re- 
proved with  the  question,  "  Why  even  of  yourselves 
judge  ye  not  what  is  right?"  We  forget  that  we 
cannot  so  transfer  responsibility  to  our  neighbors 
or  our  circumstances,  even  the  best,  or  sink  our- 
selves in  the  mass  to  which  we  for  the  time  belong. 
These  illustrations  will  sufficiently  prove  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  drift  in  this  life  of  ours, 
omnipresent,  incessant,  and  often  of  grave  import, 
and  show  some  of  its  sources  and  something  of  its 
nature.  We  are  now  ready  to  appreciate  and  esti- 
mate the  unworthiness  and  the  perils  connected 
with  such  sun-ender  of  ourselves  to  the  currents 
that  may  be  sweeping  about  us  and  pressing  upon 

us. 

1.  This  drifting  dishonors  and  imperils  manhood, 
especially  its  highest  type.  Christian  manhood.  In 
it  we  resign  some  of  our  highest  dignities  as  men ; 
we  sacrifice  some  of  our  most  precious  privileges; 
we  throw  away  without  consideration  or  equivalent 
some  of  the  most  essential  safeguards  of  our  wel- 
fare ;  we  repudiate  responsibility. 

There  is  a  spu'it  of  the  age  very  real  and  influ- 
ential; we  as  men  cannot  be  whoUy  independent 
of  it,  yet  we  need  not  be,  nor  can  we  properly  be, 


288  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

in  unquestioning  subjection  to  it.  As  social  beings 
we  must  feel  in  a  thousand  ways  the  influence  of 
the  usages,  movements,  tendencies  of  the  larger  or 
smaller  society  in  which  we  sometimes  seem  to  be 
such  insignificant  units;  but  as  men  we  are  not 
the  creatures,  the  vassals  of  these  forces.  In  many 
things  and  in  many  ways  we  are  moved  involuntarily 
by  others ;  we  tend  to  move  with  others. 

It  is  not  true  of  aU  the  currents  in  this  social  life 
which  we  Hve  among  our  fellow-men  that  they  ai*e 
e\il  or  tend  to  evil.  It  is  often  of  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage to  us  that  we  may  have  the  benefit  of  very 
much  in  the  social  condition,  and  in  the  direction 
and  volimie  of  the  movement  of  society,  that  we 
could  never  have  produced,  but  of  which  we  may 
avail  ourselves  to  our  great  profit.  But  when  we 
most  congi-atulate  ourselves  on  the  prevalence  of 
truth  and  right  in  the  social  order  or  movement  of 
our  age,  or  land,  or  particular  community,  it  would 
be  a  poor  tribute  to  pay  the  human  sources,  much 
more  the  divine  Author  of  our  advantages,  if  we 
on  their  account  consent  to  be  the  less  men.  One 
need  not  be  a  man  to  drift ;  a  log,  a  dead  weed  can 
do  that,  and  violate  no  law  of  its  being  and  forfeit 
no  preeminence.  And  surely  it  is  most  unworthy 
of  a  man,  and  most  perilous  to  manhood,  to  be 
borne  this  way  and  that,  without  attempt  at  con- 


DRIFTING.  289 

trol ;  without  knowing  or  asking  why  and  how  and 
whither ;  and  most  of  all  in  those  spheres  of  life 
where  manly  endowments  are  of  highest  worth  and 
responsibility  presses  most  heavily. 

We  need  not  all  aspire  to  be  heroes  in  any  dis- 
tinctive way ;  yet  there  are  heroic  possibilities  in  all 
true  manliness,  and  nothing  is  in  stronger  contrast 
with  the  heroic  in  character  and  action  than  habit- 
ual inadvertence,  and  the  surrender  of  ourselves  to 
the  mastery  of  the  currents  that  may  chance  to  be 
prevailing  about  us.  Quitting  us  like  men,  we 
shall  at  least  not  di-ift.  The  heroic  stems  strong 
currents  and  forces  its  way  against  them.  It  faces 
and  withstands  multitudes,  instead  of  seeking  them 
as  its  company  and  waiting  for  their  suffrage  or 
their  practice  as  its  criterion  of  truth  and  right; 
it  can  stand  alone  in  its  witness  and  its  work ;  it  is 
self-sacrificing  rather  than  self-indulgent  and  com- 
pliant. The  hero  cannot  be  named  who  drifted  to 
his  noble  service  and  its  renown. 

2.  Drifting  puts  in  jeopardy  all  the  important  in- 
terests that  are  committed  to  mir  charge. 

As  part  of  the  plan  of  our  life,  drifting  may  be 
allowable  as  the  occasional  recreation  of  an  hour 
on  a  simimer  holiday,  when  we  thoroughly  know 
our  situation,  and  only  seem  to  abandon  all  concern 
for  the  course  and  movement  of  our  craft,  our- 


290  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

selves,  and  our  agi-eeable  companions.  Even  then 
he  would  be  worse  than  foolish  who  should  resign 
himself  to  forces  and  conditions  of  which  he  knew 
nothing,  and  with  which  it  was  not  in  his  power 
at  any  moment  to  deal  intelligently  and  resume 
the  dominion  that  he  had  never  really  renounced. 
But  in  the  more  serious  relations  of  life,  in  which 
there  is  no  holiday  putting  us  off  duty,  suspending 
the  responsibilities  and  the  issues  connected  with 
our  many  momentous  trusts,  it  is  much  more  im- 
possible that  we  divide  accountability  with — we 
know  not  what.  Unless  we  proclaim  ourselves 
utter  fools  we  cannot  assume  that  the  currents  to 
which  we  resign  ourselves  will  care  for  us  and  our 
concerns  (they  are  ours)  as  well  as  or  better  than 
we  ourselves.  If  it  is  not  true  that  all  currents  in 
life  are  evil  or  tend  to  evil,  neither  may  we  presume 
that  all  are  good  or  tend  to  good.  Be  they  ever  so 
good,  they  are  not  charged  with  our  affairs,  nor  may 
we  form  a  partnership  with  them,  sharing  risks  and 
profits.  The  conduct  of  the  business  of  our  life 
belongs  under  God  to  us. 

Alert  and  in  the  exercise  of  all  our  powers  we  are 
weak  enough,  and  have  difficulties  and  oppositions 
enough  to  overcome.  And  faithfubiess  is  faith  in 
what?  In  the  currents  about  us?  So  far  as  we 
are  fully  engaged  in  and  faithful  to  that  which  is 


DRIFTING.  291 

committed  to  oiu'  charge,  and  him  who  has  com- 
mitted it  to  us,  we  may  trust,  under  divine  guid- 
ance, to  be  brought  in  due  time  to  our  desired 
haven.  But  winds  and  seas  will  not  bring  us  there 
of  themselves.  A  south  wind  blowing  softly  may 
give  place  to  Em'oaquilo,  and  we  be  "  driven  to  and 
fro  in  the  sea  of  Adria,"  escaping  hke  Paul  and  his 
fellow- voyagers  with  but  our  lives.  Gentle  currents 
may  lead  on  to  plunging  waters,  seeking  exit  this 
way  and  that,  among  the  ledges  that  would  block 
their  course.  In  a  good  boat,  with  four  sturdy 
pilots  at  the  wheel,  one  may  pass,  as  thousands  do 
every  summer,  with  nothing  more  than  a  pleasur- 
able excitement,  over  the  rapids  at  Lachine,  and 
smile  at  the  black  rocks  and  the  boiling  waters  that 
surround  him.  Drifting  over  that  same  course 
there  would  be  little  chance  that  those  rocks  (on 
which  one's  epitaph  could  never  be  wi'itten)  would 
prove  an}i:hing  less  than  perpetual  uninscribed 
monuments  to  the  folly  which  would  surrender 
itseK  to  the  currents  that  but  a  little  way  above 
flowed  so  smoothly. 

Drifting  will  not  accomplish  for  us  any  pai't  of 
the  appointed  work  of  life  -,  will  not  build  up  holy 
character;  will  not  correct  distortions  or  supply 
deficiencies ;  will  not  enrich  us  with  treasures  of 
knowledge  and  wisdom ;  will  not  stamp  upon  us 


292  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

the  image  of  Christ ;  will  not  fulfill  any  duty  of  ours 
to  other  souls.  The  world,  society,  will  not  be  the 
better  for  our  drifting  through  it  or  in  it.  The 
salt  parts  with  something  of  its  former  saltness. 
Losing  something  constantly,  as  we  drift,  of  the 
possible  ^dgor  and  quality  of  our  former  character, 
how  shall  we  tone  up  other's  characters  ?  How  shall 
we  help  others  to  profounder  reverence  for  truth 
or  more  controlling  respect  for  principle  while  we 
are  dismissing  truth  and  principle  from  their  as- 
cendency over  ourselves  ?  Our  gains  as  we  f aU  in 
with  the  current  are  whoUy  illusory;  our  sacri- 
fices are  real  and  serious,  and  may  easily  become 
irreparable. 

3.  A  graver  aspect  yet  of  such  a  life  is  its  dis- 
loyalty to  God,  and  the  peculiar  dishonor  which  it 
puts  upon  Christ.  These  are  the  points  specially 
emphasized  in  our  text. 

God  has  not  so  fashioned  us,  and  so  endowed  us, 
and  so  watched  over  us,  and  so  had  pity  on  us  and 
paid  the  costly  price  of  our  redemption,  that  we 
might  give  ourselves  over  to  inadvertence  and  in- 
activity. We  cannot  overestimate  his  rights  of 
control,  and  the  reality  of  his  efficiency  in  the 
world  of  nature  and  of  men.  But  we  may  mis- 
judge the  nature  of  his  working,  as  we  surely  do 
if  we  take  aU  the  currents  that  are  stirring  among 


DRIFTING.  293 

men  as  exponents  of  his  will,  and  fancy  that  we 
most  submit  ourselves  to  him  when  we  most  com- 
pletely resign  ourselves  to  them. 

We  are  to  deal  personally  with  him,  and  not  in 
masses.  ''  Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him,  that  it 
may  be  well  with  thee."  His  communications  ad- 
dress themselves  to  our  intelligence  and  sensibil- 
ity and  conscience  and  will,  and  summon  them  to 
their  highest  exercise.  However  many  may  with 
us  be  subject  to  his  law,  it  is  not  our  doing  what 
others  about  us,  few  or  many,  may  be  doing  that 
proves  intelligent  loyalty  to  him.  If  his  providence 
over  us  is  particular  and  his  discipline  of  us  in- 
dividual, and  the  call  of  his  Spirit  and  his  enlist- 
ment of  us  in  his  service  contemplate  our  gifts  and 
opportunities,  then  nothing  less  personal  and  reso- 
lute and  exclusive  than  the  question,  hourly  re- 
newed, ''  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ? "  at 
all  meets  the  conditions  of  the  case.  The  asking 
must  be  ours,  and  the  interpretation  of  the  coming 
answer  ours,  and  the  decision  ours,  and  the  dis- 
charge of  duty  ours.  We  cannot  drift  on  any  cur- 
rent into  true  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.  And 
so  to  deal  with  him  is  to  deny  him.  To  float  on 
the  stream  is  neither  to  remember  nor  to  surrender 
to  his  personal  demands  upon  ourselves.  It  sub- 
stitutes another  rule  and  method  of  Hving. 


294  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

All  the  connections  of  our  text  in  the  chapters 
that  precede  and  follow  remind  us  that  God's  chief 
and  final  communications  to  men  are  those  made 
by  his  Son,  and  his  chief  requirements  those  made 
in  behalf  of  his  Son.  His  nature,  his  position  and 
relations,  his  appointed  offices  and  work,  exalt  him 
above  aU,  whether  men  or  angels,  prophets  or  min- 
istering spirits,  to  whom  God  had  given  other  com- 
mission. He  who  demands  of  angels  (all  the  angels 
of  God)  worship  of  the  Son  does  not  ask  less  of 
men.  If  we  respond  by  gi\ing  up  the  control  of 
our  Hf  e,  even  in  part,  to  any  chance  influence  that 
may  be  stirring  about  us,  it  is  not  manhood  only 
that  we  lightly  esteem,  it  is  not  our  own  interests 
simply  that  we  treat  most  indifferently  and  heed- 
lessly imperil.  Our  disloyalty  concentrates  itself 
upon  him  who  has  been  made  the  rightful  Lord  of 
our  life,  to  whom  it  should  aU  pay  tribute.  It  is 
the  testimony  of  Jesus  of  which  the  Scriptures  are 
full.  A  life  ruled  by  regard  for  that  which  is  for 
the  present  easy  and  agreeable  is  strange  dealing 
with  the  exalted  Son,  a  strange  requital  of  what  he 
has  done  for  us. 

If  all  this  be  so,  we  cannot  put  too  strong  an 
emphasis  on  the  affirmation  of  our  text :  "  There- 
fore we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the 
things  that  were  heard." 


DRIFTING.  295 

Here  is  the  affirmation  of  a  dangerous  possibility : 
we  may  drift  away  from  the  things  that  were  heard 
when  God  spake  in  heaven  and  from  heaven.  If 
we  do,  where  are  we  ? 

Here  is  the  assertion  of  a  strong  obligation :  we 
ought  to  give  heed,  to  give  heed  more  abundantly. 
It  is  not  a  mere  intimation  of  propriety  or  a  sug- 
gestion of  expediency,  it  is  a  necessity  that  is  an- 
nounced. No  fugitive  seriousness  of  thought  and 
solicitude,  no  pondering  for  a  moment,  no  glancing 
at  the  situation,  no  mild  pang  of  regret  over  our 
eiTor  and  folly  and  sin,  will  be  fair  dealing  with  the 
case  or  will  save  us.  Earnest  heed  is  a  necessity ; 
^^  tve  mustJ^  And  earnest  heedfulness  is  not  enough ; 
it  must  be  rightly  du-ected,  and  concentrated  upon 
the  things  that  most  demand  remembrance  and  the 
treatment  to  which  they  Eii'e  entitled.  No  word  of 
God  may  be  lightly  dealt  with,  and  then  put  aside 
as  having  no  more  value  for  us.  But  there  are 
words  of  his  spoken  of  old  to  and  of  the  Son  that 
should  rivet  memory  and  thought,  of  which  we 
should  never  lose  sight.  Drifting  away  from  them 
is,  above  all  other  drifting,  monstrous,  impious, 
ruinous — ^monstrous  dealing  with  truth  and  fact ; 
impious  treatment  of  him  who  spake,  and  of  him  of 
whom  he  spake ;  ruinous  dealing  with  our  own  well- 
being.     It  was  then  and  there,  when  the  Most  High 


296  PROFESSOR  AIKEN. 

SO  uttered  his  voice,  that  our  duty  was  most  clearly 
aud  unmistakably  made  known;  then  and  there 
that  the  Saviour  and  his  salvation  were  announced 
and  offered ;  then  and  there  that  we  learned  who 
and  what  is  our  God,  and  who  and  what  the  Son 
of  God,  in  his  essential  glory,  his  original  and  his 
conferred  aud  acquired  rights,  his  claims  upon  the 
allegiance  of  men. 

Here  is  the  choice  that  is  offered  us :  subjection  to 
Jesus  Christ,  and  experience  of  his  power  to  guide 
and  save ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  drifting,  to  be 
guided  and  blessed  and  saved — by  whom  or  what  ? 
Yet  so  inconsiderate  are  we,  so  ready  to  take  our 
ease,  so  fond  of  floating  on  the  current  of  the  hour, 
so  unmindful  of  our  interest,  so  insensible  to  our 
true  honor,  so  little  impressed  with  our  account- 
ability, so  little  loyal  to  God,  so  unstable  in  our 
devotion  to  Christ,  that  even  here  we  drift  away, 
and  because  it  is  only  drifting  hardly  notice  it. 

The  therefore  of  our  text  should  bring  us  to  our- 
selves ;  that  should  rebuke  and  shame  our  inadvert- 
ence, our  easy  deference  to  custom,  our  weak  com- 
phance  with  what  is  common,  popular,  current 
about  us,  our  giving  account  so  little  to  God  or  to 
ourselves  of  what  we  are  or  do.  In  the  presence  of 
him  who  spake  from  heaven  no  heed  will  be  felt 
to  be  untimely  or  excessive,  no  reverence  too  pro- 


DRIFTING.  297 

found,  no  homage  too  adoring,  no  trust  too  abso- 
lute, no  obedience  too  careful  and  scrupulous,  no 
consecration  too  entire  and  comprehensive.  Abid- 
ing in  the  presence  of  these  mighty  and  glorious 
truths,  we  may  hope,  through  the  greatness  of  God's 
grace,  to  be  carried  on  the  full  tide  of  their  power 
into  the  presence  of  the  King,  to  the  rest  that  re- 
maineth. 


HOW  WE  SPEND  OUR  YEARS.* 

By  Prof.  William  M.  Paxton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
"We  spend  our  years  as  a  tale  that  is  toZd."— Psalms  90  :  9. 

THE  year  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-one  has 
gone.  Its  times  and  incidents,  once  present, 
are  now  fast  receding  from  our  view,  as  if  borne 
upon  an  ebbing  tide,  never  to  return.  As  we  look 
backward,  past  joys  sparkle  like  white-caps  in  the 
distance,  and  then  vanish;  past  sorrows  rise  and 
swell  in  dark-blue  waves,  and  diminish  as  they 
recede.  The  year  has  rolled  out  its  last  wave  of 
privilege  and  opportunity,  and  disappeared  forever. 
Nothing  now  remains  but  to  bid  it  a  last  reflective 
farewell.  As  an  appropriate  farewell  reflection,  I 
propose  the  sentiment  of  the  text:  "We  spend  aur 
years  as  a  tale  that  is  toldJ^ 

What  renders  the  parting  affecting  is  that  they 
are  our  years.  "We  spend,"  says  the  psalmist, 
"our  years."  Oh,  it  is  sad  and  solemn  to  part 
with  anything  that  is  ours !  Whatever  is  so  related 
to  us  as  to  be  designated  by  this  language  of  self- 

*  Preached  on  the  opening  Sabbath  of  the  year  1892. 
298 


HOIV  WE  SPEND   OUR    YE^RS.  299 

appropriation  is  dear  to  our  hearts.  Our  father, 
our  mother,  our  home,  our  church,  are  expressions  of 
the  dearest  affinities  of  life.  A  day,  if  we  can  only 
call  it  ours— as,  for  example,  the  day  of  our  birth— is 
more  precious  than  all  other  days.  We  feel  sad  to  bid 
it  adieu  and  leave  it  forever.  So  wi  th  a  year  when 
it  is  linked  to  us  by  the  same  personal  relation. 

IN  WHAT  SENSE,  THEN,  WE  INQUHIE,  D(3ES  THE  PSALM- 
IST CALL  THE  FLEETING  YEARS.  OF  LIFE 
"OUR  YEARS"? 

There  is  not  a  single  one  of  them  that,  strictly 
speaking,  we  can  call  our  own.  We  have  no  right 
of  proprietorship  in  them  or  authority  over  them. 
We  can  neither  command,  nor  control,  nor  guide 
them.  There  is  no  Gibeon  on  which  the  hours 
pause  at  our  bidding  5  no  Ajalon  vrhere  the  night- 
watchers  await  our  pleasure.  Even  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, with  all  the  power  and  wealth  of  a  kingdom  at 
her  control,  could  not  command  one  inch  of  time. 

And  yet  the  years  are  ours;  ours  whether  we 
will  or  not.  They  are  linked  to  us  as  by  a  personal, 
responsible,  and  indissoluble  relation.     In  the  first 

P^^^^'  THEY  ARE  OURS  TO  ENJOY. 

Enjoyment  is  the  appropriation  by  which  a  thing 
becomes  truly  our  own.     Without  this  there  can  be 


300  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

no  real  possession.  A  blind  man  may  own  one  of 
Raphael's  angels,  but  he  cannot  in  the  highest  sense 
say,  "  It  is  mints."  It  is  his  by  the  law  of  property, 
4)ut  not  by  the  law  of  nature ;  for  as  he  cannot  en- 
joy it,  he  is  in(3apable  of  that  appropriation  which 
makes  it  truly  liis  own.  Just  so  the  years  are  ours 
to  enjoy.  Thi,>  was  their  primeval  design.  God 
made  the  years  to  be  the  measure  of  oui*  joys ;  but 
sin  perverts  them  to  note  the  slow  and  weary  transit 
of  our  woes.  When  God  appointed  the  sun  and  the 
moon  to  ''be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for 
days  and  years/'  it  was  to  measure  out  the  joys  of 
Paradise.  Each  new  day,  and  so  each  year,  was 
a  new  gift  of  Heaven  to  enjoy.  In  this  blessed 
sense  the  years  are  stiU  our  own.  They  come  with 
"  many  a  glorious  throng  of  happy  dreams."  Each 
moment  has  its  mercy,  each  hour  its  bursting  hope, 
each  day  its  "  good  and  perfect  gift,"  and  each  year 
its  crown  of  loving-kindness.  A  year,  therefore — 
nay,  a  day — un enjoyed  is  a  robbery  of  self,  a  sin 
against  Heaven.     Better  lose  a  jewel  than  a  joy. 

THEY  ARE  OURS  TO  EMPLOY. 

Ours  for  the  best  and  most  valuable  uses.  They 
aire  oui*  seed-time,  to  be  employed  in  ploughing  and 
sowing  for  the  harvest  of  eternity.  They  are  the 
woof  and  warp  out  of  which  we  weave  the  web  of 


HO^V  JVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  301 

life.  They  are  a  mine  in  wliich  there  is  a  mass  of 
precious  treasure,  which  may  be  dug  for,  and  will 
be  found  if  the  labor  is  applied.  They  are  a  stream 
flowing  swiftly  by  us,  and  when  once  past  they  are 
gone  forever ;  but  if  seized  as  they  come,  and  ap- 
propriated, they  may  be  turned  to  the  best  of  uses — 
to  grind  the  grist  of  duty  or  irrigate  the  garden  of 
the  soul.  Oh  yes,  the  years  are  ours  to  use !  They 
are  the  winds  of  time,  and  if  we  hoist  our  sails  we 
may  employ  them  to  waft  us  to  the  shores  of  the 
heavenly  Canaan. 

But  still  more  emphatically  the  Scriptures  teach 
that  the  years  are  ours  as  a  ivorhing  day.  Time  is  a 
little  section  cut  out  of  eternity,  and  given  us  to  do 
our  work  in.  Hence  the  command,  "  Go  work  to- 
day in  my  Adneyard !  "  There  is  no  soul  work 
beyond  the  grave.  All  that  a  poor  sinner  can  do 
for  his  immortal  soul  must  be  done  in  that  short 
span  of  time  which  intervenes  between  the  cradle 
and  the  grave.  But  there  is  a  still  more  important 
sense  in  which  the  passing  years  are  ours. 

THEY  ARE  OURS  TO  ACCOUNT  FOR. 

Time  is  a  precious  treasure  given  to  us  in  trust 
as  stewards,  and  we  are  responsible,  not  only  for 
the  principal,  but  for  the  interest.  We  have  not 
only  to  account  for  each  moment  received,  but  for 


302  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

its  use.  We  must  return  to  God  his  own  with 
usury.  With  every  hour  that  God  gives  us  he 
seems  to  say,  "  Take  this  and  occupy  till  I  come." 
A  year  past  is  therefore  a  year  gone  before  to  meet  us 
at  the  Judgment.  Every  day  is  a  charge  against  us 
in  the  book  of  life.  Every  moment  that  fills  up  the 
measure  of  our  time  comes  to  us  like  a  messenger 
from  another  world,  marks  our  conduct,  and  then 
hastens  back  with  its  report  to  the  throne  of  God. 

If,  then,  the  years  are  ours  by  such  a  blessed,  sol- 
emn, and  momentous  proprietary ;  if  they  are  ours 
to  enjoy,  ours  to  employ,  and  ours  to  account  for  at 
the  bar  of  God — how  do  we  spend  them  ?  This  in- 
quiry, so  deep  and  solemn  in  its  import,  is  answered 
by  the  text, 

"WE  SPEND  OUR  YEARS  AS  A  TALE  THAT  IS  TOLD." 

This  answer  not  only  expresses  an  inevitable 
fact,  the  rapid  transit  of  life,  but  involves  a  censure. 
'^We  spend,"  literally,  we  consume,  we  waste  our 
years,  as  if  in  listening  to  a  tale  that  is  told.  Let 
us,  then,  dwell  for  a  few  moments  upon  the  points 
of  the  comparison  here  presented. 

WE  SPEND  OUR  YEARS  ILLUSIVELY — ^AS  A  TALE 
THAT  IS  TOLD. 

The  point  of  thought  here  is  the  correspondence 
between  the  false,  unreal,  fictitious  way  in  which 


HOIV  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  303 

many  spend  their  years,  and  the  dreamy,  excited 
illusions  we  experience  in  listening  to  a  romantic 
tale.  The  comparison,  you  observe,  is  not  to  a  sober 
history,  but  to  an  airy  fiction.  The  allusion  of  the 
text  is  evidently  to  the  legends,  poems,  and  tragic 
romances  which  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  world, 
especially  in  Oriental  countries,  were  recited  from 
house  to  house  by  traveling  bards  and  minstrels. 
Those  who  listened  to  these  engaging  recitals — 
like  those  who  now  gaze  upon  a  theatrical  illusion 
— imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  ideal  scene,  and  were 
wrought  into  sympathy  with  the  actors,  till  for  the 
time  being  they  lived  and  breathed  under  the  spell 
of  the  enchantment,  and  then  awoke  to  find  it  all 
an  illusion. 

Such,  to  vast  multitudes,  is  life — a  vain,  unreal 
scene,  a  fictitious  delusion,  a  succession  of  wanton 
hopes  and  bitter  disappointments.  They  imbibe 
the  spirit  of  the  world  j  are  wrought  into  sympathy 
with  the  passing  pageant ;  hurry  with  feverish  ex- 
citement from  scene  to  scene  and  from  act  to  act 
in  the  drama  of  life ;  and  at  its  close  awake  to  the 
realization  that  they  have  walked  in  a  vain  show, 
they  have  been  the  victims  of  a  false  and  artificial 
excitement,  they  have  wasted  emotion  in  idle  and 
foolish  sjTupathies,  and  are  now  ending  their  years 
as  a  tale  that  is  told. 


304  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

Who,  indeed,  is  there  that  to  some  extent  has 
not  experienced  this  illusion  ?  Who  has  not  found 
the  magnificence  of  life's  promise  lost  in  the  pov- 
erty of  the  accomplishment  ?  Youth  is  fresh  and 
bright  with  hopes  never  to  be  realized.  Middle 
age  is  eager  and  sanguine,  grasping  after  expecta- 
tions which  end  in  vacuity  and  disappointment. 
Old  age,  worn,  sobered,  wrinkled  with  care,  and 
covered  with  the  dust  of  toil,  confesses  that  its 
days  have  been  '^  few  and  evil."  Industry  digs  for 
a  hid  treasure,  which  often  disappears,  like  the 
fabled  chest,  as  soon  as  the  crowbar  rings  upon 
its  ii'on  lid.  Ambition  climbs  for  laurels  that 
wither  in  its  grasp.  Pleasure,  like  a  humming- 
bird, recedes  from  the  silly  child  of  sense  as  he  ap- 
proaches to  seize  it,  and  retiring  from  flower  to 
flower,  eludes  his  speed  and  cunning.  Thus  in  a 
vain,  unreal  illusion  '^  we  spend  our  years  as  a  tale 
that  is  told.'' 

Is  Hf  e,  then,  with  its  crowd  of  incidents  and  ob- 
jects, an  unreal  phantasm?  Is  this  great  world, 
with  its  busy  enterprise  and  potent  energy,  a  dream, 
a  pageant,  a  mere  minstrel's  tale?  Nay,  verily! 
The  world,  and  life  in  the  midst  of  such  a  world,  is 
a  reality.  The  illusion  is  not  in  Hf e  or  in  the  world 
but  in  ourselves — in  our  own  distorted  vision,  in 
our  own  deceitful  and  wicked  hearts.     The  real  be- 


HOIV  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  305 

comes  a  fiction  when  viewed  through  a  false  medium, 
and  even  sober  truth  becomes  falsehood  when  mis- 
conceived or  falsely  applied. 

As  a  matter  of  experience,  we  all  know  that  life 
is  just  what  the  mind  and  heart  make  it.  The  outer 
is  but  the  exponent  or  expression  of  the  inner  hfe. 
The  soul  spreads  its  own  hue  over  everything.  To 
a  fresh,  genial  spirit  life  is  joyous  and  the  world  is 
clothed  in  a  wedding-garment ;  whilst  to  the  som- 
ber, melancholic  mind  aU  nature  is  shrouded  in  a 
funeral-paU.  In  the  case  of  each  the  shroud  and 
the  bridal-robe  are  woven  in  the  loom  of  theii'  own 
feelings.  "  The  universe,''  says  another,  "  is  the  ex- 
press image  and  direct  counterpart  of  the  souls  that 
dwell  in  it.  Be  noble,  and  all  nature  replies,  ^  I  am 
divine';  be  mean,  and  all  nature  dwindles  into 
contemptible  smallness."  To  this  we  may  add: 
be  holy,  and  life  is  real  and  glorious;  be  sinful, 
and  life  perverted  from  its  proper  use  is  a  gross 
delusion. 

Solomon  represents  himself  as  having  constructed 
a  magnificent  pile  of  every  good  thing  under  the 
sun,  only  to  find  it  vanity  in  the  end.  What  was  the 
reason  of  Solomon's  disappointment  ?  He  mistook 
the  proper  use  and  design  of  the  good  things  of  life, 
and  thus,  by  his  own  perversion,  they  became  an 
illusion.     "  Solomon,"  says  a  commentator,  ''  would 


306  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

have  found  no  disappointment  in  Ms  houses  if  he 
had  used  them  as  houses ;  nor  in  his  wealth  if  he 
had  used  it  as  wealth ;  but  instead  of  this,  he  made 
them  things  to  love  and  put  his  confidence  in,  and 
in  that  view  aU  his  successes  were  vanity  and  vexa- 
tion of  spirit/' 

Here,  then,  is  the  true  solution  of  life's  illusion. 
It  is  deceitful  only  as  we  use  it  deceitfully ;  it  is 
false,  because  by  perverting  its  end  and  uses  we 
practice  deception  upon  ourselves.  Life  properly 
understood  and  virtuously  fulfilled  is  a  scene  of 
sublime  reahty,  an  arena  of  noble  deeds,  a  discipline 
for  the  development  of  love,  faith,  and  patience, 
and  a  school  for  exercise  and  evolution  of  immortal 
powers.  Then  let  us  break  the  speU  of  this  false 
enchantment ;  for,  believe  me, 

"Life  is  real,  life  is  earnest, 

And  the  grave  is  not  its  goal ; 

'Dust  thou  art,  to  dust  retumest,' 

"Was  not  spoken  of  the  soul." 

WE  SPEJH)  OUR  LIVES  AJMUSIVELY,  AS  IF  LISTENING 
TO  A  TALE   THAT  IS   TOLD. 

A  tale  is  usually  a  momentary,  trifling  amuse- 
ment. We  listen,  not  for  any  serious  or  valuable 
purpose,  but  to  be  entertained  or  to  pass  away  an 
idle  hour.     It  is  followed  by  no  good  or  perma- 


HOH^  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  307 

nent  results.  The  emotions,  whether  sportive  or 
serious,  terminate  with  the  story,  and  both  are 
speedily  lost  and  forgotten.  And  in  a  manner 
similar  to  this  are  the  years  of  life  spent  by  no 
small  part  of  the  human  race.  The  hearers  of  tales 
are  not  more  perfectly  the  votaries  of  amusement 
during  the  period  of  rehearsal  than  are  multitudes 
during  the  whole  progress  of  life.  In  this  way 
they  waste,  consume  their  years,  as  one  who  hstens 
to  a  tale  that  is  told.  Many  are  active,  energetic, 
industrious ;  but  the  great  purpose  at  which  they 
aim  is  enjoyment,  without  a  wish  exercised  or  an 
attempt  made  to  become  wise,  virtuous,  or  useful. 
Mere  butterflies,  they  flutter  from  field  to  field  and 
from  flower  to  flower,  heedless  that  the  summer  in 
which  they  sport  will  be  soon  succeeded  by  a  season 
of  frost  and  death. 

This  may  be  true  just  as  much  of  the  active,  ener- 
getic man  of  business,  or  of  the  stirring  housewife, 
as  of  the  mere  child  of  passion  and  pleasure.  They 
may  pursue  the  enterprises  and  endure  the  toils  of 
life  for  purposes  merely  amusive.  The  whole  aim 
of  all  their  plans  and  projects  may  be  to  say  to 
their  soul  at  some  future  day :  "  Soul,  take  tliine 
ease;  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years ;  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry." 

To  such  the  successive  stages  of  life  bring  no 


308  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

solemn  reflections.  They  consume  one  year  and 
enter  upon  another,  inquiring  only,  "  how  to-mor- 
row shall  be  as  to-day,  only  more  abundant."  In- 
stead of  learning,  from  past  errors  and  past  sins, 
future  wisdom  and  reformation ;  instead  of  being 
admonished  by  reproofs,  alarmed  by  judgments, 
solemnized  and  softened  by  affliction,  and  charmed 
to  gratitude  and  repentance  by  the  mercies  of 
a  gracious  Providence,  they  hurry  from  enjoy- 
ment to  enjoyment,  and  bustle  from  sport  to 
sport,  imbosomed  and  lost  in  the  present  grati- 
fication, forgetful  that  endless  happiness  must  be 
gained,  or  endless  misery  suffered,  in  the  world  to 
come. 

Now,  against  this  mere  amusive  wasting  of  life 
the  censure  of  the  text  is  directed.  Oh,  how  dif- 
ferent is  this  manner  of  employing  life  from  that 
to  which  it  was  destined  by  our  Creator!  By 
him  it  was  intended  to  be  to  each  one  of  us  a 
day  of  probation  and  of  grace,  a  season  in  which 
we  were  to  renounce  our  sins,  accept  of  the  mercy 
offered  to  us  through  a  Redeemer,  and  secure  a 
title  to  a  happy  immortality.  To  turn  it,  then, 
from  this  grand  object  to  purposes  of  mere  amuse- 
ment is  one  of  the  grossest  of  all  perversions.  It 
is  to  ignore  the  design  of  our  Creator;  it  is  to 
sink  the  soul  into  subserviency  to  the  claims  of  the 


HO^  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  309 

fleshj  and  it  is  to  barter  the  birthright  of  our  ini- 
mortahty  for  a  mess  of  earth's  pottage.  If  one  of 
yonder  stars  should  resign  its  glorious  sphere  and 
^^  sink  to  darkle  in  a  rayless  void,"  it  would  not  be 
a  gi-eater  perversion  of  the  design  of  its  creation 
than  for  an  immortal  soul,  that  might  shine  as  an 
orb  of  light,  to  forego  the  distinctions  of  its  spiritu- 
ality, to  burrow  in  the  dust  of  worldliness,  and  pale 
its  splendors  amid  the  follies  and  lusts  of  an  earthly 
carnahsm. 

If,  then,  the  purpose  of  life  is  so  important  and 
life  itself  so  solemn,  how  have  you  spent  the  past 
year?  Have  you  consumed,  wasted  it  for  mere 
purposes  of  seK-gratification,  and  are  you  now 
bringing  it  to  a  close  amusively,  as  a  mere  tale  that 
is  told  ?  The  time  is  short,  but  to  spend  this  short- 
ness easily  is  arrant  foUy.  He  who  wastes  the  life 
that  now  is  sins  against  the  life  to  come. 

WE    SPEND    OUR   YEARS    SWIFTLY,   AS   A  TALE    THAT 
IS  TOLD. 

The  former  points  of  the  comparison  involved  a 
censure,  but  this  confronts  us  with  a  serious,  solemn 
fact — the  rapid  transit  of  our  years,  the  swiftness 
with  which  we  pass  from  station  to  station  in  our 
hurried  journey  to  the  grave.  "We  spend  our 
years  as  a  tale  that  is  told."     Hours  fl}^  like  words, 


310  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

weeks  like  sentences,  months  like  chapters,  and  life 

like  a  tale  quickly  told. 

*'  The  very  breath  which  frames  my  words 
Accelerates  my  death." 

'^^We  die  daily,"  says  the  Apostle  5  die  as  fast  as 

time  flies.     We  talk  of  dying,  and  die  while  we  are 

talking.     Existence  here  is  a  continuons  death. 

"Our  birth  is  nothing  but  our  death  begun, 
And  cradles  rock  us  nearer  to  the  tomb." 

Oh,  what  a  fleeting,  evanescent  thing  is  life !  "A 
vapor  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then 
vanisheth  away ;  "  a  wind  that  is  present  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  anon  it  is  gone ;  a  shadow  that  flits  across 
the  plain;  a  flower  that  blooms  in  the  morning 
with  a  freshness  and  beauty  that  charms  the  eye, 
and  in  the  evening  it  withers  away;  a  journey 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  rapid  as  the  passage 
of  the  weavei-'s  shuttle  : 

"A  fire  whose  flames  through  crackling  stubble  fly, 
A  meteor  shooting  from  the  summer  sky, 
A  bowl  adown  the  bending  mountain  rolled, 
A  bubble  breaking,  and  a  fable  told. 
A  noontide  shadow  and  a  midnight  dream." 

These  are  emblems  which  aptly  proclaim  our  earthly 
course. 

Few  who  have  passed  the  season  of  youth  have 
failed  to  observe  how  imperceptibly  we  advance  in 
years;  how  year  after  year  is  stealing  on  with  a 


HOIV  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  311 

stealthy  and  even  pace,  and  without  our  notice  is 
bearing  us  into  age  and  toward  the  darkness  of 
the  tomb.  We  grow  old  and  approach  our  d>ing 
hour  without  being  aware  how  rapidly  we  advance. 
The  boy,  the  youth,  the  man,  is  looking  forward 
to  life,  till  suddenly  he  awakes  from  his  dream  and 
finds  his  life  is  chiefly  spent.  His  years  have 
sped  away  he  knows  not  how,  like  a  tale  that  is  told. 
Not  only  is  the  passage  of  our  years  rapid,  but 
increasingly  rapid  as  we  advance  in  hfe.  As  the 
interest  of  a  tale  deepens  the  time  passes  more 
swiftly,  until  at  length,  absorbed  in  the  crisis  of  the 
plot,  hours  flee  apace,  and  we  take  no  note  of  their 
passage.  Just  so  in  Uf  e.  The  flight  of  years  gi'ows 
swifter  as  we  advance  in  age.  As  cares  cluster  and 
the  drama  deepens,  hours,  days,  and  years  pass  un- 
noticed, and  men  look  back,  worn  and  bewildered, 
wondering  how  it  is.  Time  seems  to  run  with 
breathless  speed  as  we  draw  near  the  goal  of  death, 
as  if  it  were  eager  to  bear  us  to  the  grave.  This 
fact  none  have  failed  to  notice.  The  explanation 
is  that  time,  correctly  speaking,  is  nothing  more 
than  a  succession  of  ideas.  These  ideas  are  less 
numerous  and  the  impressions  they  make  upon  the 
mind  less  permanent  in  old  age  than  in  youth,  and, 
consequently,  ''  the  road  of  declining  life  has  fewer 
stones  to  mark  our  progress  along  it." 


312  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

THE  COMPARISON  OF  THE  TEXT  FURTHER  INDICATES 

HOW  SHORT  OUR  PAST  LIFE  APPEARS 

IN  THE   REVIEW. 

If  we  take  the  standpoint  of  an  aged  man,  and 
look  back,  his  threescore  and  ten  years  seem  com- 
pressed into  the  briefest  compass.  So  much  of  the 
incident  of  life  has  faded  from  his  memory,  that 
it  all  seems  like  a  tale  that  is  told.  ^'An  old  man," 
says  another,  '^  can  Hve  over  all  his  years  again  at 
one  sad  sitting."  "Childhood's  happy  thoughts, 
youth's  painted  phantoms,  manhood's  early  strug- 
gles 5  the  clutched  prize,  which  proved  a  shadow ; 
the  dreaded  ill  which  never  came — what  are  they  in 
the  review  but  like  the  chapters  of  a  well- wrought 
tale — only  too  natural  in  their  telling !  " 

Hence  the  mournful  review  of  Jacob  in  answer 
to  Pharaoh:  "The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pil- 
grimage are  a  hundred  and  thirty  years ;  few  and 
evil  have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been." 
"  Few  and  evil'"  "  For  what,"  asks  a  TVTiter,  "  were 
the  living  things  of  that  history?  The  life  of 
that  long  life  ?  Oh,  they  were  just  the  marked  pas- 
sages, the  mere  headings  of  chapters — his  vision 
at  Bethel,  his  service  for  Rachel,  his  wrestling  with 
the  Angel,  his  tidings  of  a  long-lost  son  saving  his 
gray  hairs  from  being  brought  with  sorrow  to  the 


HOIV   IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  313 

grave.  Much  of  the  rest  of  that  one  hundred  and 
thirt}^  years  was  one  great  undotted  blank — the  un- 
remembered  parts  of  a  now  concluded  tale." 

The  figure  of  the  text  includes  another  point  of 
comparison. 

YEARS  PAST,  LIKE  A  TALE  THAT  IS  TOLD,  ARE  USE- 
FUL ONLY  FOR  THEIR  MORAL. 

They  are  gone  beyond  the  possibihty  of  recall, 
and  whatever  advantages,  or  privileges,  or  oppor- 
tunities they  presented  when  they  were  present  with 
us  are  now  gone  with  them  into  the  abyss  of  eter- 
nity. The  past  is,  therefore,  of  no  profit  now,  save 
as  the  food  for  solemn  reflection. 

Let  us,  however,  as  from  a  tale  already  told,  en- 
deavor to  deduce  the  moral. 

I.  To  all  of  us  it  has  been  a  ijear  of  prolonged  life. 

We  have  enjoyed  a  whole  year  more  of  valuable 
time  than  we  had  any  right  at  the  beginning  of  it 
to  assure  ourselves  of.  The  unfruitfulness  of  the 
former  year  might  have  justly  subjected  us  to 
the  sentence  pronounced  upon  the  barren  fig-tree : 
"Cut  it  down,  why  cumbereth  it  the  ground?" 
But  the  Saviour  prayed,  "Spare  it  yet  another 
year,"  and  our  lives  were  continued,  and  riches  of 
time  given  us  to  spend,  more  than  we  had  any 
right  to  expect.     The  moral;  then,  obviously  is  the 


314  PROFESSOR  PAXTON. 

exceeding  goodness  and  long-suffering  of  God,  and 
the  necessity  of  careful  self-examination  to  see  if 
we  have  done  that  which  we  were  spared  to  do  j  if 
we  have  brought  forth  this  year  "fi-uit  meet  for 
the  Master^s  use." 

II.  Again :  It  has  been  to  many  of  us  a  year  of 
great  spiritual  opportunity  and  privilege. 

Let  us  go  back  and  place  ourselves,  in  thought, 
where  we  stood  at  the  beghming  of  the  year.  What 
a  wide  door  of  privilege  opened  before  us ;  what 
advantages  for  spiritual  instruction  and  improve- 
ment ;  what  opportunities  for  glorifying  God  and 
saving  souls;  what  means  for  advancement  in 
knowledge  and  growth  in  grace ;  what  facilities  for 
prayer,  for  holy  meditation,  for  heavenly-miuded- 
ness,  for  self-examination  and  self-correction,  for 
assuring  ourselves  of  our  interest  in  Christ  and  of 
our  title  to  eternal  life !  Compute  the  sum  of  all 
these  individual  things,  and  consider,  if  effected, 
what  spiritual  enrichment  you  would  now  enjoy. 
Remember  now  that  when  the  year  began  all  this 
was  possible,  and  what  is  the  moral  you  deduce? 
Obviously  a  lesson  of  fervent  gratitude  to  God  for 
such  a  harvest  season  of  privilege,  and  of  deep  hu- 
miliation for  our  failures  to  reap  the  benefits.  A 
lesson  of  repentance  for  the  past,  and  endeavors 
after  new  obedience  for  the  future. 


HO^V  IVE  SPEND   OUR    YEARS.  315 

in.  Again ;  To  most  of  us  it  has  been  a  year  of 
domestic  and  social  enjoyment. 

Oiir  boards  have  been  covered  with  plenty,  our 
homes  have  smiled  with  gladness,  and  domestic 
affections  and  family  ties  have  endeared  us  to  life. 
Let  us,  then,  draw  the  moral  thus :  God  has  spared 
me  another  year  to  my  family,  and  his  goodness  to 
me  and  mine  place  me  under  a  new  obligation  to 
love  and  serve  him.  Let  me,  therefore,  begin  the 
new  year  by  the  more  entire  consecration  of  my- 
self and  my  household ;  by  the  more  faithful  in- 
struction of  my  children  in  the  way  of  life ;  and 
with  a  full  purpose  of  heart  that  ''  as  for  me  and 
my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 

Time  would  fail  to  particularize.  The  moral  of 
the  year  differs  according  to  the  position  and  cir- 
cumstances of  each  individual.  To  the  bereaved 
and  afflicted  it  is  a  lesson  of  humble  resignation 
and  faith  -,  to  the  tempted,  an  admonition  to  chng 
closer  to  him  who  was  "  tempted  in  all  points  like 
as  we  are,  yet  without  sin  " ;  to  the  unconverted  it 
is  a  call  to  repentance  before  the  door  is  shut ;  to 
the  young,  a  warning  that  another  year  has  passed, 
and  that  the  invitation  grows  more  urgent — "  Son, 
give  me  thine  heart."  To  one  and  all  it  is  a  lesson 
of  the  shortness  of  time,  and  of  its  increasing  value 
as  we  near  the  terminus  of  life. 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE 
TOWARD   DEATH. 

By  Prof.  Benjamin  B.  Warfield,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

"For  we  know  that  if  the  earthly  house  of  our  tahernade  he 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  verily  in  this  we  groan, 
longing  to  he  clothed  upon  with  our  habitation  which  is  from 
heaven  :  if  so  be  that  being  clothed  we  shall  not  be  found  naked. 
For  indeed,  we  that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being  bur- 
dened :  not  for  that  we  ivould  be  unclothed,  but  that  we  woidd  be 
clothed  upon,  that  what  is  mortal  may  be  sicallou-ed  up  in  life. 
Now  he  that  wrought  us  for  this  very  thing  is  God,  who  gave 
unto  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit.  Being  therefore  always  of  good 
courage,  and  knowing  that,  whilst  we  are  at  home  in  the  body, 
we  are  absent  from  the  Lord  {for  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by 
sight):  we  are  of  good  courage,  I  say,  and  are  willing  rather  to 
be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  at  home  with  the  Lord.  Where- 
fore also  we  make  it  our  aim,  ichether  at  home  or  absent,  to  he 
ivell-pleasing  unto  him.  For  we  must  all  be  made  manifest  before 
the  judgment  seat  of  Christ ;  that  each  one  may  receive  the  things 
done  in  the  body,  according  to  what  he  hath  done,  whether  it  be 
good  or  bad:'— 2  Cor.  5  : 1-10. 

NOWHERE   more  fully  than  in  the  opening 
chapters  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians does  Paul  describe  the  trials  and  distresses 
of  the  life  that  he  was  living  as  ambassador  of 
Christ.     He  had  been  lately  thrown  to  the  beasts 
316 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    317 

at  Ephesus,  and  had  escaped,  almost  miraculously 
as  we  may  well  believe,  with  bare  life.  While  re- 
covering, perhaps  slowly,  from  the  deadly  injuries 
thus  received,  the  news  reached  him  of  the  thi-eaten- 
ing  defection  of  the  churches  of  Galatia,  and  of  the 
danger  of  that  in  Corinth,  and  added  mental  to  his 
physical  distress.  For  the  good  of  his  children  in 
the  Lord  he  controlled  the  expression  of  his  sor- 
rows, and  sent  to  each  of  these  churches  a  letter  of 
admonition  and  instruction,  only  venturing  in  that 
to  the  Galatians  on  the  pathetic  appeal  which  con- 
sisted in  calling  their  attention  to  the  large,  mis- 
shapen, and  painfuUy  formed  characters  in  which 
alone  he  could  now  scrawl  the  accustomed  line  or 
two  which  he  added  with  his  own  hand  at  the  end 
of  his  letters.  Meanwhile  things  came  once  more 
to  a  climax  at  Ephesus.  Under  the  leadership  of 
one  Demetrius,  the  craftsmen  who  made  profit  out 
of  the  service  of  Diana  raised  a  tumult  against  the 
Apostle's  preaching  5  and  assembling  in  the  theater, 
"  all  with  one  voice  about  the  space  of  two  hours 
cried  out,  '  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians ! ' " — 
not  the  first  instance  in  history,  nor  likely  to  be  the 
last,  when  volume  and  continuance  of  sound  are 
made  to  do  duty  for  argument. 

Warned  by  this  that  the  public  mind  in  Ephesus 
was  no  longer  in  a  condition  to  profit  by  his  preach- 


318  PROFESSOR   JVARFIELD. 

ing,  Paul  departs  for  Macedonia,  apparently  before 
the  time  appointed  for  the  return  of  his  messengers 
from  CoriQth,  hoping  to  meet  them  on  the  road. 
But  Titus  does  not  come  even  at  Troas  (2  Cor.  2 : 
13)  ]  and  torn  with  anxiety  the  Apostle  pushes  on 
into  Macedonia.  There  at  length  his  returning 
messengers  meet  him,  and,  better  than  that,  bring 
him  good  news.  The  Corinthians  allow  his  au- 
thority, and  have  humbled  themselves  to  his  re- 
bukes J  and  that  beloved  church  at  least  has  ridden 
safely  over  the  crest  of  the  wave  that  thi-eatened  to 
submerge  it.  The  burdened  heart  of  the  Apostle 
overflows,  and  he  writes  to  the  Corinthians  out  of 
his  very  soul.  For  once  we  see  within  him,  and 
learn  how  the  stupendous  trials  which  pressed  upon 
him  affected  his  thought  and  feelings. 

Amid  all  these  sufferings,  the  mere  allusions  to 
which,  lightly  touched  as  they  are,  appaU  u5,  he  is 
upheld  by  his  sense  of  the  greatness  of  his  work 
and  of  the  greatness  of  his  hope.  Though  his  out- 
ward man  is  being  literally  worn  away,  he  need  not 
faint  5  for  his  inward  man  is  being  renewed  day  by 
day,  and  all  this  afliction,  terrible  as  it  is,  is  hght 
compared  with  the  eternal  weight  of  glory  which 
it  is  working  for  him.  His  courage  draws  its  force, 
thus,  from  his  confidence  in  his  future  reward.  It 
is  because  he  looks  not  at  the  things  that  are  seen. 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOJVARD  DEATH.    319 

which  are  temporal,  but  at  those  that  are  not  seen, 
which  are  eternal,  that  he  can  bear  all  things.  Like 
Moses,  he  looks  unto  the  recompense  of  reward, 
and  endures  as  seeing  the  Invisible  One.  Like 
Abraham,  he  is  content  to  dwell  in  tents  for  a  sea- 
son, because  he  looks  for  the  city  which  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.  It 
is,  indeed,  with  just  this  last  figure  that  the  Apos- 
tle expresses  his  feeling  here.  The  reason  of  his 
strength,  he  tells  us,  is  because  "  we  know  that  if 
our  earthly  tent-dweUing  be  destroyed,  we  have  a 
house  from  God,  a  dwelling  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal,  in  the  heavens."  What  are  earthly  suffer- 
ings to  one  who  looks  upon  his  very  bodily  frame 
as  but  a  tent,  in  which  he  sojourns  for  a  time,  and 
expects  the  laying  of  it  aside  to  be  merely  a  step 
toward  entering  into  a  mansion  prepared  for  him 
by  God  himself? 

The  Apostle  then  contemplates  the  wearing  away 
of  his  present  body  with  patience.  But  we  must 
observe  that  it  is  not  exactly  death  that  he  longs 
for.  He  is  burdened  here,  and  sighs  for  rehef  from 
the  burdens  of  this  life,  that  somehow  mortality 
may  be  swallowed  up  by  life.  But  he  shrinks  from 
death.  He  could  wish  to  be  alive  to  greet  the  Lord 
when  he  comes,  and  so  put  on  the  habitation  which 
is  from  heaven  over  this  earthly  tent,  rather  than  be 


320  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

found  naked  on  the  coming  of  that  glad  day.  Not 
that  he  expects  to  live  until  the  Advent ;  he  only 
could  find  it  in  his  heart  to  wish  it ;  he  is  in  entire 
uncertaintv"  as  to  the  issue,  and  accordingly  adds, 
"That  is,  of  course,  if,  when  we  do  put  on"  (or 
"when  the  putting-on  time  comes")  "we  shall  be 
found  not  naked."  How  instructive  meanwhile  it  is 
to  obsen^e  this  great  soldier  of  the  cross,  who  was 
"  in  deaths  oft "  and  "  died  daily,"  shrinking  with 
purely  human  f eehng  from  the  act  of  death ;  how 
magnificent  must  have  been  his  courage,  a  courage 
rooted  in  nothing  human,  but  in  a  divine  faith  and 
hope.  For  scarcely  has  this  cry  of  human  nature 
escaped  from  him  before  he  proceeds,  as  if  quietly 
reasoning  with  himself,  to  declare  that  God  has 
wrought  us  for  the  very  purpose  of  swallowing  up 
our  mortality  in  life,  and  given  us  even  here  his 
Spirit  as  earnest  of  his  intention.  And  his  contem- 
plation being  thus  withdrawn  from  self  and  cast 
on  God,  his  shrinking  from  death  disappeai*s  too. 
"  Being,  then,  of  good  courage  always,"  he  declares, 
"and  knowing  that  while  we  are  at  home  in  the 
body  we  are  away  from  home  from  the  Lord  (for 
it  is  by  faith  that  we  are  walking,  not  by  appear- 
ance), we  are  of  good  courage,  I  say,  and  are  well 
pleased  rather  to  go  away  from  home  from  the  body 
and  go  home  to  the  Lord."     Thus  faith  conquers 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    321 

the  natural  fear  of  death.  As  much  as  he  fears  it, 
he  longs  for  the  Lord  more,  and  the  most  direct 
path  that  leads  to  his  side,  however  painful  or  even 
unnatural  it  may  be,  he  will  joyfully  take. 

Paul's  whole  heart  is  now  before  us.  He  is  bur- 
dened in  this  life  and  longs  to  be  with  his  Lord. 
He  could  wish  that  the  Lord  would  hasten  his 
coming,  and  thus  ^^ clothe  him  upon"  with  immor- 
tality ;  but  if  this  is  not  to  be  he  earnestly  desh-es 
even  in  nakedness  of  soul  to  be  with  him,  and  wel- 
comes the  fearful  and  unnatural  portal  of  death  as 
access  to  him.  It  is  the  model  of  the  Christian's 
attitude  toward  Hfe  and  death  and  the  life  that  lies 
beyond  death.  Let  us  seek  to  make  it  such  for  our 
bruised  hearts  to-day,*  and  endeavor  to  understand 
from  the  Apostle's  uncovered  soul  what  should  be 
the  attitude  of  our  souls  toward  these  gi-eat  mys- 
teries. 

I.  First  of  all,  then,  we  may  learn  that  this  life 
which  we  are  living  here  cannot  be  a  satisfactory 
li\ing  to  a  Chi-istian.  "  In  this  tent-dweUing,"  says 
Paul,  "we  groan,  longing  to  be  clothed  upon  with 
our  habitation  which  is  from  heaven."  "We  that 
ai-e  in  the  tent,"  he  repeats,  "  groan,  being  burdened, 

*  This  sermon  was  preached  on  January  17,  1892,  the 
first  Sabbath  after  the  death  of  Prof.  Charles  Augustus 
Aiken,  Ph.D.,  D.D. 


322  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

with  a  view  to  the  swallowiug  up  of  mortality  in 
life."  And  lest  we  should  think  this  a  state  of  mind 
peculiar  to  himself,  as  one  ''  in  labors  more  abun- 
dant," let  us  remind  ourselves  that  he  elsewhere 
represents  it  as  characteristic  of  Chi-istians,  broadly 
declaring  that  they  "  who  have  the  first-fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  even  we  ourselves,  groan  within  ourselves, 
waiting  for  our  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of 
our  body."  This  is  indeed  the  whole  drift  of  that 
great  chapter,  the  seventh  of  Romans,  in  which  the 
conflict  of  the  Christian  life,  that  ineradicable  strife 
between  the  implanted  good  and  the  natural  evil 
within  us,  is  vividly  portrayed,  ending  with  the 
heart-rending  cry,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am! 
who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  this  body  of  death  ? " 
It  is  a  body  of  humiliation,  as  the  Apostle  elsewhere 
caUs  it,  a  body  of  death,  a  body  of  sin,  with  which 
our  spirits  are  now  clothed.  How  can  we  fail  to 
long  for  dehverance  from  it  ? 

One  of  the  characteristics  of  the  true  Christian 
attitude,  then,  is  that  we  should  be  dissatisfied  with 
the  life  which  we  are  now  Hving  in  the  flesh.  This 
is,  of  course,  not  inconsistent  with  the  contentment 
which  is  equally  a  mark  of  tlie  Christian  attitude. 
The  contentment  with  his  lot  which  the  follower  of 
Jesus  is  called  upon  to  feel  and  to  exhibit,  is,  at 
bottom,  contentment  with  Christ  and  his  provision 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    323 

for  us,  with  God  and  his  providential  dii-ection  of 
us ;  so  that  whatever  our  Father  in  heaven  sends 
us  we  are  well  content  to  receive,  and  whatever 
hardness  he  desires  us  to  experience  we  are  glad 
for  his  sake  to  endure.  Paul  longed  to  be  dehvered 
from  this  body  of  death,  but  he  was  no  stranger  to 
a  Christian's  content.  Years  after  this  he  wiites  to 
the  Philippians  that  he  still  cherished  his  "  desire 
to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,"  yet  since  liiing  in 
the  flesh  meant  fruit  of  his  work  and  was  needful 
for  them,  he  was  glad  to  forego  what  for  him  was 
'^  very  far  better,"  and  abide  with  them  all  for  their 
progress  and  joy  in  faith.  To  be  content  to  fill  the 
place  which  God  assigns  us  and  to  do  the  work 
which  our  Lord  requires  of  us  is  quite  consistent 
with  the  deepest  dissatisfaction  with  om-  own  Chris- 
tian attainment  and  the  most  passionate  longing  to 
perfect  our  course.  To  speak  of  consistency  here 
is  indeed  short  of  the  mark.  The  very  ground  of 
our  dissatisfaction  with  self  is,  that  we  ai*e  not  what 
Christ  would  have  us  be  and  fall  sadly  behind  fill- 
ing the  place  for  which  God  designs  us.  Just  be- 
cause we  are  content  with  him,  we  cannot  be  con- 
tent with  ourselves.  And  just  so  long  as  to  us 
^'who  would  do  good,  evil  is  present,"  as,  though 
we  '^  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man,"  we  "  see  a  different  law  in  our  members  bring- 


324  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

ing  us  into  captivity  under  the  law  of  sin  which  is 
in  our  members/'  we  must  cry,  '•'■  O  wretched  man 
that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of 
this  death?" 

It  is  for  us  to  ask  our  souls  seriously  this  day 
whether  this  is  the  case  with  us.  The  human  heart 
is  very  subtle  5  and  it  may  be  that  some  of  us  who 
would  fain  reply  with  a  hasty  "  yes  "  may  find  cause, 
on  consideration,  to  doubt  whether  our  dissatisfac- 
tion is  with  self  or  with  God — dissatisfaction  with 
the  dispensations  of  his  providence,  by  which  some 
messenger  of  sickness  or  sorrow  or  failure  has 
visited  us.  In  the  bitterness  of  the  moment  we 
may  feel  glad  to  leave  this  world  of  our  misery  or 
our  shame,  not  knowing  that  the  long-suffering  of 
God  leadeth  us  to  repentance.  The  truly  Christian 
dissatisfaction  is  not  such.  It  is  with  self  and  the 
meagerness  of  our  Christian  attainment.  And  it 
shows  itseK  in  an  eager  desire  not  so  much  to  de- 
part from  the  world  as  to  depart  from  sin  and  to 
sit  down  in  the  heavenly  places  with  Christ. 

II.  We  cannot  help  observing,  as  a  second  impor- 
tant truth  which  we  may  learn  from  this  unique 
record  of  Paul's  inner  experience,  that  even  to  the 
Christian  death  remains  an  undesired  guest.  Al- 
though the  Apostle  gi'oaned  under  the  burden  of 
his  body  of  sin,  and  therefore  eagerly  wished  to  pass 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    325 

out  of  this  bodily  life,  yet  he  expresses  a  strong  de- 
sire not  to  die.  He  longed  rather  for  the  coming 
of  his  Lord,  that  he  might  go  to  him  without  dying. 
He  shrank  from  death  5  and  it  cannot  be  wrong 
for  other  Christians  like  him  to  shrink  from  death. 
We  learn  from  this  at  once  that  though  this  bodily 
life  which  we  are  now  living  in  the  flesh  is  an  evil, 
and  every  truly  Christian  soul  will  long  to  be  de- 
livered from  it,  a  bodily  life  in  itself  considered  is 
not  an  evil,  but  a  good,  and  every  rightly  constituted 
man  must  cling  instinctively  to  it.  Death  is  un- 
natural and  rightly  terrifies  its  victims.  Even  more 
— death  is  evil,  sin's  offspring,  Chi'ist's  enemy, 
Satan's  servant;  and  ever}^  Chi'istian  heart  must 
stand  aghast  before  it.  It  is  only  because  our  Lord 
and  Sa^dour  lies  now  behind  death  that  we  can 
tolerate  the  thought  of  it.  To  whom  of  us  has  this 
dread  presence  not  come  to  snatch  from  oui-  arms 
one  we  loved  better  than  life?  It  has  been  our 
comfort  and  joy  that  we  were  surrendering  him  to 
the  even  more  loving  arms  of  our  Sa\dom'.  Since 
Christ  has  died,  how  much  of  the  terror  of  death 
has  departed !  He  has  broken  its  sting,  which  is 
sin,  by  removing  its  strength,  which  is  the  cm*se  of 
the  broken  law.  Since  he  has  lain  in  it,  how  much 
of  the  gloom  of  the  tomb  has  gone  !  But  have  we 
not  needed  all  this  comfort  which  we  could  gain? 


326  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

The  gloom  of  the  tomb  still  overhangs  it ;  it  must, 
it  ought  to  do  so.  And  terrible  death  remains  ter- 
rible still  5  it  bears  on  its  front  still  the  dreadful 
legend  which  marks  it  as  God's  threatened  punish- 
ment of  sin. 

III.  In  its  closest  analysis,  the  horror  which  we 
have  of  death  turns  on  the  unnatural  separation 
which  it  brings  about  between  those  life-long  com- 
panions, the  soul  and  the  body.  And  this  leads  us 
to  the  third  gi*eat  truth  which  is  here  brought  be- 
fore us.  It  is  plain  that  the  state  of  the  blessed 
dead  between  death  and  the  resurrection,  when  con- 
sidered in  itself  alone  as  a  condition — apart  from 
their  case,  circumstances,  and  situation — is  an  un- 
desirable state,  because  a  state  of  unnatural  separa- 
tion between  soul  and  body  induced  by  and  the 
fruit  of  sin.  We  are  apt  to  think  more  of  the  body 
bereft  of  its  animating  and  informing  principle: 
even  the  bodies  of  our  beloved  are  dear  to  us.  But 
it  is  observable  that  Paul's  solicitude  seems  to  be 
less  for  the  deserted  body  than  for  the  naked  soul. 
It  is  its  unnatural  and  sin-bom  nakedness  at  death 
which'  appalls  him ;  and  in  this  unclothing  of  the 
soul  he  finds  the  horror  of  death. 

In  this  sense  the  state  of  the  blessed  dead  while 
awaiting  the  resurrection,  as  it  is  not  their  final 
state,  is  an  imperfect  state  and  therefore  an  un- 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    327 

desirable  state.     In  no  other  sense,  however.     It 
is  a  state  of  entii-e  happiness;   the  soul  is  with 
the  Lord.     It  is  a  state  of,  so  far  as  the  soul 
is  concerned,  completed  salvation,  finished  sanc- 
tification,  entire  holiness.     The  Romish  invention 
of  purgatory,  by  which  for   the   great  majority 
of  the  saved  a  period  of  purification  of  longer  or 
shorter  duration  and  of  greater  or  less  suffering 
is  interposed  between  death  and  ^'  the  going  home 
to  the  Lord,"  is  not  only  a  baseless  but  a  wicked 
invention,  at  war  with  every  statement  of  Scrip- 
ture in  the  premises,  and  with   every  dictate  of 
the  truly  Christian  consciousness  alike.     The  same 
is  true,  of  course,  of  all  the  fancies  of  the  so-called 
ethical  theology  of  our  day  which  agree  in  suppos- 
ing the  saved  soul  to  cariy  remainders  of  sin  with 
it  into  the  other  world,  because  in  its  subtle  and 
often  only  half -conscious  antagonism  to  the  super- 
natural this  school  of  thought  finds  difficulty  in  be- 
lieving that  God  cleanses  the  soul  at  death  from  its 
remaining  sin,  according  to  his  "Word ;  and  looks 
only  for  a  self -cleansing  by  the  soul  itself  in  its  own 
activity,  which  of  course  would  be,  however  aided 
by  the  Spirit,  gradual  and  slow.     It  is  not  only  the 
Westminster  Confession,  but  also  the  Scripture, 
which  teaches  in  every  form  of  language,  and  with 
every  circumstance  of  emphasis  possible,  that  "  the 


328  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

soiils  of  the  righteous  are  at  their  death  made  per- 
fect in  holiness,  and  are  received  into  the  highest 
heavens,  where  they  behold  the  face  of  God  in  hght 
and  glory,  waiting  for  the  full  redemption  of  their 
bodies." 

The  sole  element  of  truth  in  the  teachings  just  ad- 
verted to  lies  in  the  one  fact  that  redemption  is  in- 
complete until  the  resurrection.  It  is  the  soul  alone 
which  is  immediately  transferred  into  holy  bliss. 
The  body  lies  moldering  in  the  grave ;  and  though 
"even  in  death/'  in  the  beautiful  language  of 
the  Westminster  Larger  Catechism,  the  bodies  of 
Christ's  members  "  continue  united  to  Christ,  and 
rest  in  their  graves  as  in  their  beds,  till  at  the  last  day 
they  be  again  united  to  their  souls,"  their  redemp- 
tion is  not  "  fuU  "  until  the  resurrection.  The  salva- 
tion is  complete,  but  it  is  as  yet  only  an  incomplete 
man  that  is  saved.  As  the  separation  between  soul 
and  body  is  not  natural  to  man,  as  God  made  man's 
nature,  but  is  the  fruit  of  sin  and  the  penalty  spe- 
cifically threatened  to  sin,  the  work  of  redemption 
is  not  "  full "  until  Christ  conquers  his  last  enemy, 
Death,  and  comes  again  in  triumph,  reuniting  the 
souls  and  bodies  of  all  his  saints. 

It  is  not,  indeed,  a  pleasant  thought  that  Christ's 
enemy,  dreadful  Death,  retains  dominion  over  even 
this  lower  element  in  our  nature  after  death  and  on 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    329 

through  what  may  well  prove  to  be  countless  ages, 
until  the  Lord  comes  again  in  the  epiphany  of  his 
glory,  and  in  visible  conquest  over  the  last  of  his 
foes.  Do  we  wonder,  in  view  of  such  a  fact,  that 
the  Old  Testament  saiats,  iu  the  comparative  twi- 
light of  revelation,  sittiag,  if  not  in  darkness,  yet 
not  yet  m  the  full  illumination  of  the  day  of  salva^ 
tion,  could  scarcely  speak  of  death  without  a  shud- 
der, or  of  the  land  beyond  death  except  as  "  a  land 
of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  "  ?  Or  do  we 
wonder  that  in  the  fullness  of  New  Testament  hght 
the  apostles  teach  us  to  long  rather  for  Christ's  com- 
ing than  for  death,  to  wait  for  that  rather  than  for 
this,  with  expectant  patience  iudeed,  but  also  with 
strong  desire  ?  Have  we  not,  indeed,  uncovered  here 
the  one  secret  of  the  gloom  that  hangs  over  the  Old 
Testament  allusions  to  the  other  world,  and  as  well, 
of  that  strong  emphasis  that  is  placed  ia  the  New 
Testament  on  the  Second  Advent  which  has  puzzled 
many,  and  which,  beiag  misunderstood,  has  given 
birth  to  much  Chihastic  error  ?  It  was  important 
in  the  period  of  preparation  that  men's  minds  should 
not  escape  from  the  conception  of  death  as  the 
penalty  of  sin ;  and  only  when  life  and  immortality 
were  ready  to  be  brought  fully  to  light  was  it  safe 
to  make  them  fully  understand  the  bliss  that  lay 
behind  death.     And  now,  when  preparation  has 


330  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

passed  into  the  glorious  reality  of  a  completed  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  it  is  equally  important  that  we  should 
keep  in  mind  that  we  do  not  obtain  om-  entire  sal- 
vation, that  all  the  ten-ible  harvest  which  springs 
from  sin  is  not  fully  garnered  by  any  one  of  us, 
until  our  enraptured  eyes  behold  him  who  is  the 
Redeemer  from  sin  descending  from  heaven  in  like 
manner  as  he  went  into  heaven.  We  are  still  reap- 
ing fruitage  from  om-  sin,  even  after  we  go  abroad 
from  the  body  and  go  home  to  the  Lord,  or,  better, 
just  because  in  order  to  go  home  to  the  Lord  we 
must  needs  go  abroad  from  the  body. 

Let  us  praise  God  that  he  saves  the  soul  at  once 
utterly  5  and,  naked  as  it  may  be,  takes  it  home  to 
himself  and  grants  it  continual  fruition  of  his  favor, 
while  it  awaits  in  his  sheltering  arms  the  perfecting 
of  its  old  companion  the  body.  How  great  a  mercy 
that  our  Lord  enables  us  to  know  that  our  dead  are 
perfectly  holy  and  happy  at  once,  and  that  it  is  only 
the  insensate  body  that  awaits  in  the  disgrace  of 
the  tomb  the  great  day  when  he  shall  come  to  be 
glorified  in  all  his  saints.  But  it  is  equally  impor- 
tant to  keep  ourselves  reminded  that  they  gravely 
err  who  speak  with  scant  respect  of  the  body  which 
has  also  in  its  measure  been  a  habitation  of  the 
Spirit,  and  is  also  joined  to  the  Lord,  referring  to 
the  soul  as  released  from  a  prison  when  it  is  freed 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOITARD  DEATH.    331 

from  what  they  are  pleased  to  term  the  clog  of  clay. 
We  cannot  emphasize  too  strongly  that  human 
souls  were  not  created  to  exist  apart  from  matter, 
and  so  far  from  needing  to  be  separated  from  their 
bodies  for  their  completest  freedom,  are  incomplete 
and  naked  things  away  from  their  dwelling-houses 
of  clay.  It  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  to  provide 
a  salvation  adequate  to  the  whole  man ;  and  though 
it  be  only  gi-adually  reahzed,  and  the  soul  be  taken 
to  bliss  long  before  the  renewed  and  glorified  body 
is  prepared  for  it,  yet  it  is  accomplished  in  the  end, 
and  the  complete  man  stands  before  his  God,  justi- 
fied, sanctified,  glorified.  The  saints  of  God  have 
prelibations  of  their  glory.  Even  in  this  world 
they  are  received  into  the  number  of  his  sons,  and 
are  made  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  When  their 
period  of  service  below  is  accomplished,  their  spirits 
are  cleansed  from  remainders  of  sin  and  received 
into  the  presence  of  Grod.  But  the  day  that  marks 
the  beginning  of  their  heavenly  perfection  and  of 
their  completed  bliss  is  not  the  day  in  which  they 
believed,  although  in  that  act  their  whole  salvation 
was  in  principle  involved ;  nor  yet  is  it  the  day  in 
which  they  depart  to  be  with  Christ,  although  in 
that  they  enter  into  glory ;  but  it  is  to  be  the  day 
of  Christ's  glorious  coming  and  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  saints.     And  this  is  the  reason  of  the  empha- 


332  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

sis  on  the  Day  of  Judgment  in  the  Bible ;  it  is  the 
day  in  which  the  inheritance,  incorruptible  and  un- 
defiled,  and  that  f  adeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven 
for  Christ's  people,  shall  be  fully  revealed. 

ly.  It  is  time  that  we  were  throwing  stress,  how- 
ever, on  a  further  blessed  truth  brought  to  us  by 
this  passage,  and  indeed  underlying  it  as  one  of  its 
foundations :  and  that  is  that  this  intermediate  state 
of  the  blessed  dead,  although  imperfect  when  com- 
pared with  their  final  state,  when  the  whole  man 
shall  partake  of  the  divine  glory,  is,  apart  from 
that  comparison,  unspeakably  blissful,  and  to  be 
infinitely  desired  and  longed  for  by  every  Chi*istian 
soul.  We  remember  that  Paul,  with  a  clear  sense 
of  all  the  unnaturalness  of  a  separation  of  the  soul 
from  the  body,  yet  wished  rather  to  be  absent  from 
the  body  and  to  be  at  home  with  the  Lord,  and  de- 
clared to  depart  and  be  -with  Christ  to  be  '^  yqvj  far 
better."  Just  so  soon  as  he  remembered  that  while 
we  are  at  home  in  the  body  we  are  absent  fi'om  the 
Lord,  he  desired  to  go  away  from  home  from  the 
body  that  he  might  go  home  to  the  Lord.  Perhaps 
no  clearer  insight  could  be  given  of  the  infinite  bliss 
of  the  saved  soul  in  heaven  than  is  afforded  by  the 
fact  that  it  is  so  great  as  to  make  it  intensely  to  be 
desired  even  at  the  expense  of  so  unnatural  a  muti- 
lation.    Paul  does  not  conceal  from  his  readers  that 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    333 

lie  would  rather,  for  himself,  that  the  coming  of 
Chi'ist  should  be  hastened,  so  that  the  conquest  of 
Death,  the  last  enemy,  might  be  completed,  and  he 
be  glonfied,  soul  and  body,  without  death.  But 
presence  with  the  Lord  was  so  to  be  yearned  for, 
that,  if  this  was  not  to  be,  he  was  well  pleased  to 
depart  from  the  body  itself  and  go  to  the  Lord.  It 
is  well  to  let  our  hearts  dwell  on  this  revelation  of 
bliss.  What  comfort  it  brings  us  for  those  who 
have  died  in  the  Lord  !  And  perhaps  it  may  entice 
oui'  own  hearts  to  long  to  lay  aside  oui-  body  of  sin 
and  enter  into  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  beyond 
the  grave. 

Let  us  note  the  superiority  of  their  state  to  ours 
here.  The  e\dl  of  our  present  life  is  positive  evil ; 
all  that  can  be  called  an  evil  in  the  soul-life  in  heaven 
is  negative  only.  By  which  it  is  intended  to  say 
that  the  holiness  and  bliss  of  the  disembodied  soul 
in  heaven  is  perfect  of  its  kind  j  it  has  only  not  yet 
been  made  a  sharer  in  so  complete  a  glorification  of 
human  nature  as  is  destined  for  it.  WhUe,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  this  life  not  only  do  we  lag  behind 
the  positive  attainment  there  and  thus  live  on  a 
lower  plane,  but  there  is  a  weight  of  positive  evil 
upon  us,  a  law  of  sin  reigning  in  our  members. 
Ah,  if  we  could  only  catch  a  glimpse  of  what  per- 
fect holiness  really  is,  how  would  we  long  to  be 


334  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

separated  from  this  body  of  sin  and  enter  into  it 
at  any  cost  I  We  observe,  therefore,  that  though 
the  separation  of  soul  and  body  is  in  itself  an  un- 
natural thing,  the  separation  of  our  redeemed  and 
sanctifying  soul  from  this  body  of  humiliation  in 
which  we  now  live  is  a  thing  to  be  greatly  desired, 
not  because  it  is  a  body,  but  because  it  is  a  body 
of  siQ.  The  bliss  of  the  intermediate  state  is  thus 
infinitely  more  to  be  desired  than  anything  that  can 
come  to  us  on  earth ;  it  is  only  less  desirable  than 
the  completed  redemption  which  is  yet  to  come. 

And  of  this  complete  redemption  it  is  the  earnest 
and  pledge.  It  is  the  completion  of  the  salvation 
of  the  higher  element  of  our  nature,  and  bears  in 
itself  the  prophecy  and  promise  of  the  completion 
of  the  salvation  of  the  whole  man.  It  is  to  be  de- 
sired, then,  as  the  storm-tossed  mariner  desires  the 
haven  which  his  vessel  has  long  sought  to  win 
through  the  tossing  waves  and  adverse  winds — 
gate  only  though  it  be  of  the  country  which  he  calls 
home,  and  long  though  he  may  need  to  wait  until 
aU  his  goods  are  landed.  It  is  the  end  of  the  jour- 
ney, when  the  friends  come  out  to  meet  us.  It  is 
within  the  Father's  house,  where  the  greeting  rings, 
"Bring  forth  the  best  robe  and  put  it  on  him.'' 
Should  the  prodigal  be  impatient  for  the  coming 
of  the  robe  ?    The  bhss  of  the  holy,  happy  dwelhng 


THE  CHRISTIAN  '5  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    335 

with  the  Lord  is  such  that  even  were  there  notliiiig 
beyond  we  should  jojrfully  seek  it ;  and  it  is  the 
promise  and  the  surety  of  a  yet  grander  future. 

But  the  Apostle  throws  his  emphasis  on  the  chief 
joy  of  the  intermediate  state.  Chiist  is  there.  To 
go  abroad  from  the  body  is  to  go  home  to  the  Lord. 
No  wonder  he  prefers  nakedness  of  soul  with  Christ 
to  personal  completeness  away  from  Christ.  And 
no  wonder  since  his  day  many  a  bed  of  suffering 
has  been  smoothed,  and  many  a  soul  has  gone  forth 
brightening  the  face  of  even  the  deserted  body  with 
its  smile  of  joy  as  it  hears  the  words  of  its  Saviour, 
"  To-day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  No 
wonder  Christian  song  is  vocal  with  the  sigh 

"  O  mother  dear,  Jerusalem  ! 

When  shall  I  come  to  thee? 
When  shall  my  sorrows  have  an  end, 

Thy  joys  when  shall  I  see? 
O  happy  harbor  of  God's  saints, 

O  sweet  and  pleasant  soil, 
In  thee  no  sorrows  ean  be  found, 

No  grief,  no  care,  no  toil ! 

*' Jerusalem  the  city  is 

Of  God  our  King  alone  ; 
The  Lamb  of  God,  the  light  thereof, 

Sits  there  upon  his  throne. 
Ah,  God  !  that  I  Jerusalem 

With  speed  may  go  and  see, — 
Jerusalem !  Jerusalem ! 

Would  God  I  were  in  thee ! " 


336  PROFESSOR   IVARFIELD. 

V.  Do  we  not  share  these  yearnings  ?  May  God 
grant  that  in  his  own  good  time  each  of  us  may 
indeed  be  permitted  to  join  the  innumerable  throng 
of  praising  saints  about  his  throne.  Dare  we  con- 
front the  possibility  that  it  may  not  be  so  ?  The 
Apostle  seems  to  confront  it.  For,  on  reaching 
this  point  in  his  statement,  he  makes  a  sudden  and 
strange  transition.  He  had  reached  the  climax: 
'^We  are  of  good  courage,  I  say,  and  are  well 
pleased  rather  to  go  away  from  home  from  the 
body,  and  go  home  to  the  Lord."  Here  he  might 
be  expected  to  pause.  But  he  continues ;  and  the 
words  which  he  adds  demand  our  serious  attention : 
"  Wherefore  also  we  make  it  our  ahn,  whether  at  home 
or  away  from  home,  to  he  ivell-pleasing  unto  him.  For 
we  must  all  he  made  manifest  hefore  the  judgment  seat 
of  Christ,  that  each  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in 
the  hody,  according  to  ivhat  he  hath  done,  whether  it 
he  good  or  had^  Thus  he  turns  from  the  glories  of 
his  inheritance  in  Christ  in  heaven  to  the  duties 
which  he  owes  him  on  earth ;  from  the  considera- 
tion of  what  he  may  attain  in  him  to  the  danger  of 
losing  it  all ;  from  the  bliss  of  dwelling  with  Christ 
to  the  dread  of  standing  before  his  judgment-seat. 
His  purpose  is  obvious,  and  the  addition  of  these 
solemn  words  ceases  to  be  strange.  It  is  not  enough 
to  contemplate  the  glories  of  heaven  j  we  must  seek 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  ATTITUDE  TOIVARD  DEATH.    337 

to  make  those  glories  ours.  They  are  given  to 
whom  they  justly  belong  5  we  must  all  stand  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  and  receive  according 
to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  whether  good  or 
bad.  And  note  the  finality  of  this  judgment.  The 
Apostle  plainly  does  not  contemplate  the  possibiht}^ 
of  any  reversal  or  of  any  change  -,  the  verdict  upon 
what  is  done  here  is  the  irreversible  doom  of  all  the 
future.  And  therefore  it  behoves  us  to  be  well- 
pleasing  to  him. 

Oh,  the  troops  upon  troops  that  have  laid  aside 
the  trials  and  labors  of  earth,  well-pleasing  to  their 
Lord,  and  entered  into  their  rest  with  him  ! 

'*  Death's  wings  beat  round  about  us  day  and  night ; 
Their  wind  is  on  our  faces  now." 

While  yet  our  farewell  to  them  on  this  side  of  the 
separating  gulf  was  sounding  in  their  ears,  the  glad 
"  Hail !  "  of  their  Lord  was  welcoming  them  there. 
May  God  grant  to  each  of  us  to  follow  them.  May 
he  give  us  his  Holy  Spirit  to  sanctify  us  wholly  and 
enable  us  when  we  close  our  eyes  in  our  long  sleep 
to  open  them  at  once,  not  in  terrified  pain  in  tor- 
ment, but  in  the  soft,  sweet  light  of  Paradise,  safe 
in  the  arms  of  Jesus ! 


THE  VISION  OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS 
HOLINESS. 

By  Prof.  John  D.  Davis,  Ph.D. 

"  Then  said  I,  Woe  is  me !  for  I  am  undone  ;  hecause  I  am 
a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
unclean  lips :  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
hosts.  Then  flew  one  of  the  seraphim  unto  me,  having  a  live 
coal  in  his  hand,  which  he  had  taken  icith  the  tongs  from  off  the 
altar :  and  he  touched  my  mouth  with  it  and  said,  Lo,  this  hath 
touched  thy  lips  ;  and  thine  iniquity  is  taken  away,  and  thy  sin 
purged." — Isaiah  6 : 5-7. 

Tin  HE  event  whicli  this  chapter  records  is  a  vision 
-■-  seen  by  Isaiah  the  prophet.  The  visions  of 
the  prophets  were,  for  the  most  part,  private  j  they 
were  apprehended  by  the  individual,  not  by  his 
companions.  A  natm*al  cause  sometimes  cooper- 
ated in  producing  the  vision  j  the  vision  of  the 
great  sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  which  Peter  saw, 
and  the  voice  heard  saying,  "  Arise,  Peter,  slay  and 
eat,"  stood  in  some  relation  to  his  bodily  hunger, 
as  the  account  in  the  Book  of  Acts  clearly  intimates. 
Thus  far  have  the  visions  of  the  prophets  points  in 
common  with  visions  begotten  of  an  abnormal 
mental   condition,  and  to  this  extent  the  bibhcal 


THE   VISION   OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS  HOLINESS.   339 

visions  are  to  be  classed  as  mental  phenomena. 
These  facts  are  only  additional  proofs  of  what  we 
should  expect,  namely,  that  God,  in  holding  com- 
munication with  men,  worked  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  man's  mind. 

The  visions  of  the  prophets,  however,  form  a 
unique  class.  With  perhaps  one  exception,  they 
were  granted  to  holy  men  only,  men  who  were  sur- 
rendered to  God's  service,  men  between  whom  and 
then-  divine  sovereign  there  had  '^arisen  an  un- 
derstanding." These  visions  were  clearly  distin- 
guished by  those  who  saw  them  from  ordinary 
visions  and  were  recognized  as  proceeding  from 
God.  The  visions  of  the  prophets  were  cau- 
tiously accepted  by  the  Church ;  by  law  they  were 
not  received  as  genuine  until  their  teaching  and 
their  credentials  had  been  subjected  to  tests. 
The  biblical  visions  stand  alone  in  the  history 
of  rehgions  for  purity  and  righteousness;  they 
were  never  vain,  never  meaningless  vagaries  or 
lying  wonders,  but  always  have  a  clearly  discerni- 
ble moral  and  didactic  content;  and  they  were 
often  predictive,  upon  which  fulfillment  has  set  the 
seal  of  truth.  Biblical  visions,  finally,  belong  to 
an  age  of  revelation,  and  came  to  men  who  in  man- 
ifold manner  proved  themselves  to  be  vehicles  of 
revelation  from  God. 


340  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

This  vision  which  Isaiah  saw  is  iii  itself  simple, 
but  it  revolutionized  the  man.  It  brought  familiar 
truths  into  strong  relief,  focused  them  on  his  soul, 
and  burned  them  into  the  depths  of  his  nature.  It 
^\TOught  his  conversion,  or  rather,  if  this  chapter  is 
in  its  proper  place,  as  there  is  no  sufficient  reason 
to  deny,  it  produced  what  we  are  wont  to  call  a 
second  conversion :  it  made  God  known  to  him  as 
never  before ;  it  brought  to  light  his  own  true  con- 
dition by  nature;  it  led  him  to  offer  himself  for 
any  mission  which  God  might  choose.  And  it  was 
also  a  revelation :  it  announced  to  him  an  appointed 
work  and  disclosed  to  him  the  scanty  success  which 
should  attend  his  labors  for  Israel,  yea,  the  harden- 
ing of  heart  and  sealing  of  the  eyes  of  the  many 
which  his  preaching  would  produce. 

Isaiah  in  vision  saw  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
Host  means  army,  and  the  title  ^'Lord  of  hosts" 
has  been  supposed  to  describe  Jehovah  as  God  of 
the  armies  of  Israel.  The  children  of  Israel  were 
called  God's  hosts  (Ex.  7 : 4),  and  they  recognized 
Jehovah  as  "  the  Lord  strong  and  mighty,  the  Lord 
mighty  in  battle."  But  while  the  epithet  was  often 
applied  to  Jehovah  when  he  fought  for  Israel,  it 
was  not  his  official  designation  as  leader  of  Israel's 
armies.  The  word  hosts  in  this  connection  did  not 
refer  to  Israelitish  troops,  but  to  the  armies  of  the 


THE   VISION  OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS  HOLINESS.   341 

universe,  in  its  spiritual  and  material  aspects,  as 
forming  a  vast  army,  in  numerous  divisions,  of 
various  kinds  of  troops,  in  orderly  aiTay  under 
the  command  of  Jehovah.  The  Lord  of  hosts  is, 
as  in  this  vision,  the  King  whose  glory  fills  the 
universe. 

One  mighty  host  in  that  army  consists  of  the 
angels.  It  was  the  Lord,  the  God  of  hosts,  which 
appeared  to  Jacob  at  Bethel  when  he  beheld  the  lad- 
der and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descend- 
ing (Hosea  12 :  4,  5) ;  and  God's  host  encamped 
about  him  after  he  separated  from  Laban  (Gen. 
32 :  2).  Their  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  filled  the 
mountain  roimd  about  Ehsha  (2  Kings  6  :  16).  The 
chariots  of  God  ai'e  twenty  thousand,  thousands  of 
angels  (Ps.  68  :  17)  j  his  messengers  who  minister 
unto  him  and  do  his  pleasure.  "Who  in  the  skies 
can  be  compared  unto  the  Lord  ?  Who  among  the 
sons  of  the  mighty  is  like  unto  the  Lord,  a  God  very 
terrible  in  the  council  of  the  holy  ones,  and  to  be 
feared  above  aU  them  that  ai'e  round  about  him  ? 
O  Lord  God  of  hosts,  who  is  a  mighty  one  like 
unto  thee,  0  Jah  ? ''  (Ps.  89 ;  6-8.)  Beautifully  fit- 
ting was  it  that  when  Jehovah  took  upon  himself 
the  nature  of  man  and  lay  as  a  babe  in  Bethlehem, 
a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  appeared  to  cele- 
brate his  bui:h  (Luke  2  :  13). 


342  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

Another  division  of  the  army  under  Jehovah's 
command  consists  of  the  stars.  The  heavenly 
bodies  are  repeatedly  called  the  host  of  heaven 
On  any  clear  night  when  we  look  aloft  the  aptness 
of  the  imagery  is  apparent.  There  is  no  confusion 
in  the  starry  sky,  but  order  and  arrangement. 
Certain  stars  are  grouped  in  the  form  of  a  bear ; 
others  trace  the  rude  outline  of  a  serpent;  still 
others  define  the  magnificent  proportions  of  the 
mighty  hunter.  One  group  forms  a  cross,  another 
a  lyre,  another  a  water-carrier,  another  a  bull, 
another  an  eagle.  And  among  them,  majestically 
and  without  disturbance,  move  the  planets.  Truly, 
"marshaled  on  the  nightly  plain,  the  glittering 
hosts  bestud  the  sky.''  The  Hebrew  people  saw  the 
array.  Isaiah  bids  those  who  would  know  God  to 
go  forth,  "  lift  up  their  eyes  on  high  and  see  who 
hath  created  these.  He  who  bringeth  out  [into 
the  field  like  a  general]  their  host  by  number,  who 
caUeth  them  aU  by  name,"  and  "  upon  them  layeth 
commands  "  (Is.  40 :  26,  45 :  12). 

Perhaps  yet  another  host  was  iacluded  in  the 
divine  title,  namely,  the  forces  of  nature.  They 
too  stand  at  the  bidding  of  Jehovah.  "  He  sendeth 
out  his  commandment  upon  earth,  his  word  runneth 
very  swiftly ;"  fire  and  hail,  snow  and  vapor,  not 
less  than  stormy  wind,  fulfill  his  word.     The  Lord 


THE   VISION   OF   THE  KING   IN  HIS  HOLINESS.    343 

of  hosts  sends  'Hhe  sword,  the  famine,  and  the 
pestUence  "  (Jer.  29  :  17).  "  The  Lord,  which  giveth 
the  sun  for  a  light  by  day,  and  the  ordinances  of 
the  moon  and  of  the  stars  for  a  light  by  night, 
which  stirreth  up  the  sea  that  the  waves  thereof 
roar ;  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  his  name  "  (Jer.  3i  :  35). 

The  Greeks,  looking  at  the  heavens  above  them 
and  at  the  earth  around  them,  beholding  every- 
where order,  called  what  they  saw  cosmos — beauty 
of  harmony.  The  Romans,  discovering  the  same 
harmonious  relations  and  movements,  named  the 
entirety  of  creation  a  universe — combined  as  one. 
To  the  poetic  imagination  of  the  Hebrews,  with 
their  knowledge  of  the  omnipotent,  reigning  God, 
the  regularity  and  order  ever^-where  apparent  sug- 
gested an  army  in  vast,  numerous,  and  varied  divis- 
ions acting  under  the  command  of  one  will,  and 
that  will  Jehovah's.  The  Lord  of  hosts,  he  is  the 
King,  the  King  who  sitteth  upon  the  throne  of  the 
universe. 

Isaiah  saw  the  great  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
further,  as  the  Holy  One.  Seraphim  stood  before 
him,  crying :  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  art  thou.  Lord  God 
Almighty.  The  whole  earth  is  full  of  thy  glor}\" 
It  was  the  glor\^  and  making  of  Israel  that  the 
truth  of  the  holiness  of  God  was  known  and  cher- 
ished in  her  borders.    When  we  wander  among  the 


344  PROFESSOR  DAVIS. 

nations  contemporary  with  the  Hebrews,  whether 
among  the  kindred  peoples  in  Arabia,  or  Phoenicia, 
or  the  Tigris  valley,  or  farther  away  among  men 
of  another  race,  among  the  cultured  Greeks,  and 
when  we  become  acquainted  with  the  conceptions 
of  God  current  among  the  contemporaneous  nations 
and  with  the  forms  of  worship  in  which  they  en- 
gaged, we  are  amazed  to  find  the  truth  of  the  holi- 
ness of  God  shining  in  its  effulgence  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Judea.  Israel  alone  among  the  neighboring 
nations  worshiped  an  absolutely  holy  God.  There 
was  a  light  in  Palestine  beyond  the  brightness  of 
the  sun,  more  beneficent  in  its  influence,  powerful 
to  awaken  moral  life. 

The  Lord  of  hosts  reveals  himself  as  a  moral 
being  even  when  as  King,  seated  upon  his  throne, 
he  demands  allegiance.  He  addresses  himself  to 
us  as  our  Creator,  the  former  of  our  bodies,  bestower 
of  our  faculties,  framer  of  our  spirits,  and  our  con- 
tinual upholder.  He  addresses  himself  to  us  as 
the  possessor  of  that  inherent  sovereignty  over  us 
which  the  parent  possesses  over  the  young  child. 
On  this  ground  he  claims  from  us  obedience,  rever- 
ence, affection.  He  is  not  a  usurper ;  he  has  erected 
his  throne  upon  the  foundation  of  truth.  Universal 
sovereignty  he  claims  as  a  right. 

But  in  another  manner  God  of  old  revealed  his 


THE   VISION   OF   THE  KING   IN  HIS  HOLINESS.    345 

holiness  to  Israel:  he  proclaimed  the  moral  law. 
In  it  he  laid  bare  the  fact  that  he  cannot  be  wor- 
shiped nnder  the  Kkeness  of  anything  in  heaven 
above  or  in  the  earth  beneath  or  in  the  waters  nnder 
the  earth;  for  however  snblime  the  object,  it  is 
only  one  of  God's  thoughts  and  affords  but  a  partial 
view  of  his  boundless  glor^^  They  that  worship 
God  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  they 
must  leave  his  eternal  power  and  moral  grandeui' 
in  theii-  boundlessness  and  in  theii-  truth. 

In  the  same  majestic  code  God  comes  before  us 
as  he  whose  name  may  not  be  taken  in  vain.  Man 
bows  to  power,  and  fawns  upon  wealth,  and  ap- 
plauds genius;  he  feels  respect  for  moral  worth 
alone.  God  appeals  to  this  innate  homage  to 
worth.  He  does  not  desii-e  unwilling  submission, 
nor  to  be  courted  for  favors,  nor  to  be  given  ap- 
plause ;  he  requii-es  the  reverence  due  unto  his 
name.  He  discloses  his  glorious  character  to  our 
moral  judgment :  a  character  which  is  above  van- 
ity; which  overawes  frivolous  mention,  awakens 
the  deepest  emotions  of  our  being,  commands  the 
admiration,  reverence,  homage,  and  adoration  of 
our  moral  nature. 

Again  does  God  come  before  us  in  the  ten  com- 
mandments, speaking  to  us  now  of  our  relation  to 
our  fellow-men,  requiring  of  us  a  moral  life ;    re- 


346  PROFESSOR  D^yiS. 

quiring  of  thee,  O  man,  that  thou  do  justly,  and 
love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  thy  God. 

Yet  again  the  Lord  comes  before  us  in  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  law  and  in  the  reasons  annexed  thereto 
^'  glowing  with  zeal  for  all  that  is  pui-e  and  good 
and  holy  and  true,  ever  engaged  in  separating  the 
holy  and  true  from  the  unholy  and  false,  striving 
to  do  it  first  by  mercy,  and  if  man  makes  that  fail, 
then  by  the  cutting  off  of  his  judgments '' ;  a  God 
delightmg  in  the  presence  of  holy  ones  and  boun- 
tifully blessing  them  5  a  God  who  cannot  behold 
iniquity,  the  awful  outflow  of  whose  indignation  is 
against  sin,  but  against  sin  only — a  fire  consuming 
iniquity. 

These  were  the  familiar  thoughts  which  were 
brought  home  to  Isaiah.  He  saw  God  in  a  single 
vision  as  the  King  of  the  universe  and  the  absolutely 
Holy  One.  At  the  sight  he  cried  out,  "  Woe  is  me  ! 
for  I  am  undone ;  for  I  a  man  of  unclean  Hps  .  .  . 
have  .seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts."  There 
was  a  widespread  belief  in  Israel  that  no  man  could 
see  God  and  live.  The  cry  of  Isaiah  did  not  spring 
fi'om  intellectual  assent  to  that  doctrrue;  it  was 
the  soul's  realization  of  the  fact. 

In  contrast  with  the  King,  Isaiah  saw  himself  a 
rebel.  In  the  presence  of  God,  man  must  see  him- 
self thus.     In  our  souls  we  know  two  things.     We 


THE  VlSlOhl  OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS  HOLINESS.   347 

know  that  if  God  exists,  he  is  our  King.    We  can- 
not away  with  that.     We  can  mock,  we  can  stifle 
the  voice  of  nature  in  us,  we  can  stop  our  ears ; 
and  yet  when  aU  things  stand  naked  and  revealed 
we  are  forced  to  confess  that  he  is  oui'  lawful  King. 
We  know  also  that  we  have  rebeUed  against  him ; 
we  know  that  we  have  gone  stubbornly  every  one 
his  own  ways.     Upon  this  fundamental  thought 
the   wiiters  of  Scripture  dwell— that  before   the 
secret  tribunal  of  man's  most  inmost  soul,  sooner 
or  later,  wiUing  or  umvilling,  man  must  confess  the 
truth  that  God  is  his  lawful  sovereign.     And  with 
that  confession  must  come  from  hun  who  has  not 
obeyed  the  truth  the  cry,  "Woe  is  me!  for  I  am 
undone;  for  I  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
hosts."    No  place  for  me  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Banishment  is  my  lot.     I  know  the  condemnation 
of  the  King— not  spoken  in  words  alone,  of  which 
the  sound  will  die,  not  written  on  perishable  parch- 
ment, but  uttered  by  the  soul :  ''  Depart  with  ever- 
lasting destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.'' 
But  these  are  not  the  only  floods  of  conviction 
which  are  bound,  sooner  or  later,  to  rush  upon  the 
soul.     In  the  presence  of  the  King,  the  King  of 
glory,  whose  nature  is  holiness,  in  the  presence  of 
that  company  of  holy  angels,  the  prophet  saw  him- 
self unclean,  and  the  sense  of  his  defilement  over- 


348  PROFESSOR  DA^IS. 

whelmed  him.  Seraphim,  who  had  never  rebelled, 
never  sinned,  could  surround  the  throne,  could 
adore,  and  in  overpowering  admiration  could  cry, 
'jHoly,  holy,  holy  art  thou,  Lord  God  Almighty  "j 
but  his  lips,  although  they  had  often  spoken  God's 
name,  were  unfit  to  ascribe  holiness  to  the  Holy 
One.  Back  of  the  lips  was  the  heart,  and  because 
of  the  heart  he  was  unable  to  render  the  lips  as 
sacrifice. 

It  is  easy  for  God  to  show  to  us  our  guilt:  a 
vision  to  Isaiah  j  an  opening  of  the  eyes  to  our 
first  parents  j  a  thunder-storm  witnessing  to  God's 
power  in  nature  recalling  pious  Job  to  a  proper 
attitude  toward  God;  an  earthquake  shock  at 
Philippi  awakening  the  jailer  to  his  sinful,  lost 
condition  5  a  stiH,  small  voice  to  Elijah ;  a  parable 
to  David;  an  overlooked  truth  to  Nicodemus;  a 
glimpse  of  the  past  life  to  the  woman  at  Sychai'. 
Verily  it  is  but  a  thin  veil  that  hides  the  sinfulness 
of  our  hearts  from  our  eyes,  if  hidden  it  be.  The 
breath  of  God  sweeps  it  away.  He  needs  but  to 
suggest  to  us,  for  example,  this :  Do  you  ever  do 
what  your  conscience  or  the  Bible  teUs  you  is 
wrong?  Do  you  ever  go  your  own  way  and  not 
God's?  Do  you  always  bow  to  the  holy  law  of 
God  as  the  supreme  rule  of  right,  and  are  you 
always  influenced  by  a  governing  regard  for  God  ? 


THE   VISION  OF  THE  KING  IN  HIS  HOLINESS.   349 

And  toward  your  fellow-men  do  you  entertain  pure 
thoughts  only,  and  kindly  and  chaste  and  unenvious 
desires  toward  your  neighbor  and  your  rival  ?  In 
the  words  of  that  wondrous  summarj^,  do  you  love 
God  with  all  your  heart  at  all  times,  and  your 
neighbor  equally  as  yourself  ?  Love  never  f aileth. 
Love  seeketh  not  its  own,  is  not  provoked,  taketh 
not  account  of  evil,  rejoiceth  not  in  unrighteous- 
ness, but  rejoiceth  with  the  truth. 

Those  may  ascend  God's  holy  hill  who  have  clean 
hands  and  a  pui'e  heart.  To  ascend  means  to  stand 
in  the  visible  presence  of  the  King  5  to  occupy  a 
place  in  the  circle  about  the  throne ;  to  worship 
him  whose  awful  indignation  against  sin  is  a  con- 
suming fire ;  to  be  under  the  gaze  of  the  all-seeing 
eye  which  regardeth  not  the  outward  appearance, 
but  searcheth  the  heart ;  and  there  venture  to  cr}^, 
"  Holy,  holy,  holy  art  thou.  Lord  God  Almighty." 

In  the  presence  of  the  King,  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
the  Holy  One,  Isaiah  saw  himseK  undone.  But 
when  he  lost  aU  hope  of  being  able  to  stand  before 
the  holy  God  he  learned  that  God  can  save  the  sin- 
ner, that  God  only  can  save,  and  that  God  saves 
without  the  sinner's  help.  It  is  the  lost  whom 
God  finds.  It  is  the  soul  burdened  by  the  sense 
of  its  guilt  which  God  is  willing  to  reheve.  Oh, 
blessed  suffering  when  it  is  the  forerunner  of  God- 


350  PROFESSOR  DA^IS. 

given  relief !  When  lie  discovered  himself  undone 
Isaiah  saw  an  altar, — as  long  afterwards  the  Apostle 
John  saw,  standing  amidst  the  company  about  the 
throne,  the  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain  from  the 
fCimdation  of  the  world.  It  brought  to  the  proph- 
et's mind  the  fanuliar  teaching  of  propitiation,  of 
that  shedding  of  blood  without  which  there  is  no 
remission  of  sins ;  and  that  the  holy  God,  whose  just 
indignation  against  sin  is  the  destruction  of  the 
sinner,  has  nevertheless  established  an  altar  in  the 
precincts  of  the  palace.  He  saw  a  live  coal  taken 
from  off  the  altar  with  tongs  by  a  messenger  sent 
forth  by  God,  and  laid  upon  his  lips  with  the  words, 
''  Lo,  this  hath  touched  thy  lips ;  and  thine  iniquity 
is  taken  away  and  thy  sin  purged."  He  saw  the 
altar,  he  heard  that  it  availed  for  him,  and  that  by 
God's  work  he  was  rendered  guiltless  in  God's  sight. 
He  saw  the  burning  coal,  and  perhaps  he  discerned 
in  it  somewhat  of  the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  with  fire,  which  purifies  the  soul  and  makes  it 
fit  for  the  Master's  use.  God  bums  out  the  sin  in 
mercy  that  the  sinner  be  not  consumed  in  wrath. 
And  lo !  the  holiness  of  God  has  extended  the 
sphere  of  holiness ;  it  has  freed  a  sinner  from  guilt ; 
it  has  kindled  a  flame  in  him  which  will  work  for 
righteousness ;  it  has  added  another  to  the  number 
of  the  saints. 


THE  VISION   OF   THE  KING  IN  HIS  HOLINESS.   351 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  observation  that  the 
gi*eatest  sinners  often  make  the  greatest  saints. 
There  is  reason  for  this  fact,  and  in  part  it  is  because 
the  great  sinner  beholds  the  awful  pit  in  which  he 
was  fallen,  discerns  most  profoundly  the  necessity 
for  and  the  efficacious  power  of  the  sacrifice  on 
Calvary,  and  apprehends  most  vi\ddly  the  wonders 
of  redeeming  love.  But  there  is  no  need  that  one 
be  a  great  criminal  in  order  to  become  a  great  saint. 
It  is  only  necessary  for  any  man  to  obtain  a  true 
view  of  the  desperate  wickedness  of  his  heart,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  right  conception  of  the  absolute 
hoHness  of  God,  in  order  to  be  revolutionized  in 
conversion  and  to  become  an  unwearied  pubHsher 
of  man's  lost  condition  by  nature,  and  of  the  free 
grace  of  God  in  Christ.  Paul  is  sometimes  falsely 
cited  as  the  great  sinner  becoming  the  great  saint. 
He  is  really  the  example  of  a  conscientious,  strictly 
moral  though  misguided  servant  of  God,  trans- 
formed by  one  focused  glimpse  of  the  crucified, 
risen  Jesus  as  Saviour  and  Lord  into  the  fearless, 
tireless  missionary  of  the  cross  and  scepter  of  the 
Christ.  So,  too,  Isaiah  would  seem  to  have  been  a 
godly  man  before  the  vision ;  but  after  the  vision, 
he  it  is  who,  more  than  any  other  writer  of  Script- 
ure, dwells  upon  those  attributes  of  God  which  are 
comprehended  in  the  two  titles,  "Lord  of  hosts,^' 


352  PROFESSOR  DAJ/IS. 

and  "  Holy  One  of  Israel "  5  and  if  we  mistake  not, 
he  is  the  prophet  who  diligently  proclaimed  that 
we  all  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  j  that  all  our 
righteousnesses  are  as  filthy  rags ;  that  the  holiness 
of  God  devours  the  land  in  judgment,  burning 
until  the  cities  be  left  desolate;  and  he  is  the 
prophet  who  lifts  up  with  greatest  urgency  to  dy- 
ing Israel  and  a  dying  world  the  suffering,  atoning 
Saviour  offering  salvation  for  a  look,  to  every  one, 
without  money  and  without  price. 

Who  wrote  the  last  twenty-seven  chapters  of  the 
Book  of  Isaiah  ?     The  man  who  had  the  vision. 

Who  is  it  that  became  the  faithful  servant  of 
God,  ready  for  a  service  of  large  disappointment 
and  popular  dislike?  He  who  saw  God  as  the 
King,  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  Holy  One,  and  himself 
as  the  rebel,  guilty,  lost,  subject  to  the  justifying 
grace  and  sanctifying  work  of  God. 

The  Lord  grant  that  we,  through  the  written 
Word  and  by  the  work  of  the  Spirit,  may  likewise 
apprehend  the  King  in  his  glory  and  be  revolu- 
tionized. 


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DATE  DUE 

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